Days of our Haiden
by xoxoRuflyGirl
Summary: Hope and Aiden's story continues, proving that not even death can destroy true love.
1. S1E1

**_Days of our Haiden_**

Hope just finished having lunch with her partner and boyfriend Rafe Hernandez at the Town Square. Now, Rafe had to get back to work, though it was Hope's day off.

They stood up, and Rafe pulled her close and softly kissed her. "I'll see you tonight for our date then?" he asked

Hope wrapped her arms around his waist and smiled. "I'll be counting the hours."

Rafe grinned, and they kissed once more, then he was gone.

Hope sighed happily as she watched him leave. They had been dating for almost a year. She had thought her heart would never heal after the man she had thought she was going to spend the rest of her life with tried to strangle her to death, and (as if that weren't enough) her long-lost husband falling ill and dying shortly afterward. Then Rafe came along. He had always been such a good friend to her—caring, loving, supportive. One day he had admitted his feelings for her, and she surprised herself when she realized she was open to the idea of moving on with Rafe. After all, unlike the other two men in her life, Rafe had always been there for her, and had never let her down.

She headed for the park to take a shortcut to her house. It was a nice, fall day out. In less than a week it would be a year since the day Aiden Jennings—the man she had thought she was going to spend the rest of her life with—had tried to strangle her.

A cool breeze ran through the park, causing the fall leaves to flutter around her. She pulled her jacket tighter around herself and shivered. However, she wasn't shivering because of the breeze. Well, not just because of the breeze. She was shivering because the night of the would-be-strangulation still haunted her nearly a year later. She still wasn't quite sure what drove the man she loved to try to kill her on her wedding night. She now knew he wasn't the necktie killer because Ben had confessed to the other murders. She also knew Aiden had been in debt, so she figured he was just after her life insurance policy that she found out he had changed right before they wed. She guessed he had a debt to pay that could only be paid by killing her.

Even so, she knew Aiden—or at least she thought she had—and it wasn't like him. The man she knew had been a wonderful father to his son Chase, and loved her with all his heart. Had it really been all an act? Did this mean he had killed his first wife? Was he just some gambling addicted psychopath who made women fall in love with him only to kill them for the insurance policy money to pay off his debts? Had their love really been all put on, or had he really fallen for her?

She sat down on a bench and sighed. Even if he really had fallen for her, he obviously chose not trusting her and paying off his debt before his love for her.

Hope jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She screamed, jumped off the bench, and whirled around to see who had grabbed her.

Chase stepped back a little and held his hands up in defense. "Hope, relax! It's just me."

Hope sighed with relief and relaxed a bit. "Chase. Hi. I'm sorry. I guess I'm just a little on edge."

"You're still thinking of my dad, aren't you?" Chase asked.

Hope felt her heart melt. She knew that this was just as hard on Chase as it was in her. She could hear the sadness in his voice. Since Aiden's death, Chase hadn't been the same, happy joyful kid he once was. In fact, things had never the same again. It was understandable of course, but heartbreaking nonetheless.

She sighed. "Come here." She held out her arms to him.

Chase walked over to her and hugged her, staying in her arms for a moment.

Hope held him tightly. "I'm always going to think of that night and wonder why he did what he did, but please know that he loved you. He was a good man; he just wasn't well. Eventually, something in him just snapped."

Chase broke the hug. "He also loved you, Hope. I know he tried to kill you, but it still makes no sense to me almost a year later. I have no doubt in my mind that he loved you. You were all he would ever talk about. Sometimes I felt he loved you more than me."

Hope shook her head. "You know that wasn't true. You were the most important person in his life."

"Well, you were pretty high up there too. You do know he really loved you, right?" Chase looked deep into her eyes.

Hope looked away. "I know. I wouldn't think he could fake his love for me for nearly two years." She looked at him and pushed some hair behind her ears. "But I also wouldn't have thought he'd try to strangle me on my wedding night."

Chase placed a hand on her shoulder again.

Hope looked him in the eyes.

"Hope, my dad loved you so much! Please don't ever believe for a second that he didn't," Chase said softly.

Hope nodded, tears in her eyes. "I know. I'm going to choose to remember the man I fell in love with; not the unwell man he ended up being."

Chase hugged her. "Good." He then released her. "Remember, I won't be home for dinner tonight. I'm going out with Claire, Joey, and his new girlfriend."

Hope nodded. "Rafe and I have a date tonight anyway, and Ciara will be out with Theo."

Chase's face fell a bit.

Hope sighed. "Honey, I know you think I moved on too fast, but—"

Chase cut her off. "No, it's all right. Rafe's cool I guess. My dad tried to kill you. I understand why you had to move on."

"I'll always hold the good times your father and I had close to my heart. He made feel alive again when I thought Bo had deserted me. I'll always love him for that regardless of how it ended. Plus, Rafe isn't your father, and your father isn't Rafe," Hope explained.

"Rafe isn't to take my father's place. He's just a new chapter in your life," Chase said with a nod. Hope had explained it all to him before.

Hope nodded. "Exactly! That's why love is so special—there's always enough for more without having to get rid of any."

Chase grinned. "See you tomorrow, if not later tonight."

Hope kissed his cheek. "See you soon!"

Chase then left.

Hope watched him until he disappeared, then she sighed, and headed for home.

*This love came back to me. *

Meanwhile, Stefano Dimera sat in his wheelchair, watching the motionless body of his and Andre's latest captive.

Their captive wore no shirt, revealing that his chest was scarred with an ugly reddish pink line down the center. His torso was clothed only in a pair of white, silky shorts that went to this mid-thigh, but due to the sheet draped over his lower-half, you couldn't see the shorts. An IV drip was attached to him arm, feeding him both food, and the meds necessary to keep him in the lethargic state.

Of course, they didn't always leave him in such a state. Once a day they would let the drugs wear off and then they would make him walk around the room. After all, they had to keep his limbs and brain functioning correctly if they ever wanted him to be of any use to them. They would chain his ankle to the wall with a ball and chain. The chain was long enough to allow their captive easy access around the room, yet he couldn't make a break for it if he tried. For the most point, however, they kept him highly sedated. It was better that way.

Andre came up behind his father and put a hand over his shoulder. "He's looking pretty good under the circumstances. Well, other than that unsightly scar on his chest."

"We've had him here for almost a year. Remind me again of what the point is? We could at least have him working as our slave if you don't want to kill him," Stefano stated.

"Patience, my dear father. An opportunity hasn't aroused yet that would make him useful to us. I want to make sure he is fully healed before we can start the brainwashing. Then, we can make him our permanent slave. After all, not only did he never pay us back the money he owes us, but he also now owes us for saving his life. All this equipment doesn't come cheap, you know," Andre explained.

"In a week, it will have been a year since he got shot and our doctor saved his life. That will be plenty of time for a full recovery," Stefano grumbled. "I do not like to be kept waiting."

Andre rubbed his father's shoulders. "Relax, Dear father. The doctor said after a full year, his body and mind will be fully susceptible to anything administered to him. Just give it a week longer, and the process shall begin."

Stefano held his hands together in a prayer-like motion, tapping his fingers together as he watched their captive sleep. "It's had better."

*This love came back to me.*

"Flowers for my beautiful girlfriend," Rafe said kissing Hopes cheek as he arrived at her doorstep with a bouquet of six yellow roses and six red roses."

Hope blushed and smiled. "You shouldn't have." She sniffed the roses, inhaling their sweet aroma. She then grinned at him. "But I'm glad you did." She kissed him on the lips.

"I got half yellow because yellow stands for friendship, and half red because red stands for love. Our friendship turned in to love."

"Now that deserves another kiss," Hope said kissing him sweetly on the lips again.

Rafe moaned into the kiss and hungrily kissed her back.

"Just let me go put these in water, then we can go eat!" Hope said before quickly dashing off to the kitchen.

"Are you ready?" Rafe asked once she came back out a moment later.

She grabbed her purse. "I am now!"

They kissed once more, then he placed a hand over her back as they headed out the door.

*This love came back to me.*

"You can't just keep me here forever," Aiden grumbled as he walked around the room. He was tired of being drugged all the time, but the Dimeras had ways of making you do things whether you wanted to or not. Unfortunately, he didn't have much say when it came to the IV drip.

"Oh, quit your blubbering! You're alive, aren't you?" Andre said crassly.

"Yeah, well I'd rather have died than have to live through this!" Aiden grumbled. He walked around the room for the third time. He was tired, but he knew he had to keep walking. If he stopped before a hundred laps around the room, Andre and Stefano had men who would come in and "help" him finish those laps. He supposed he should just be grateful they actually let him have a nice meal every night for dinner—that is, once his laps were finished of course. Though, he knew it was more for their benefit than his. They wanted him in well enough shape to do their bidding.

After his hundredth lap, they allowed him to sit down at a wooden chair in front of a small wooden table-for-one that was kept down there.

One of Stefano and Andre's men brought in a tray of food covered with a silver top. He removed the top revealing, well-done steak, mashed potatoes, and peas. He had water to drink.

At first, Aiden had been reluctant to eat. After all, they were the Dimeras. Who knew what they could have done to his food? Eventually, however, it smelled too good to pass up seeing as this was the only real food he got each day. He simply could no longer resist it. Anyway, like he said, he'd rather be dead than be a slave to the Dimeras, so if he ended up being poisoned to death, at least he could have one last good meal and then be put out of his misery. However, he soon realized, death was not a mercy they were willing to give him. He supposed, they wouldn't have saved his life to begin with if they had wanted him dead.

"Here's a daily update. Chase is now seemingly getting real close with Claire, yet he can't quite give himself fully to her, for the thought of his father trying to kill Hope on their wedding night still haunts him to this day. He misses you deeply. He's never been the same since you died. Time does not seem to heal all wounds in his case," Andre began.

Aiden sighed. Andre did not tell him about Hope and Chase to be nice. No. In true Dimera fashion, he was using the information to make his life even more miserable.

"What about Hope?" Aiden hated asking, but he had to know. He knew that, as usual, Andre would choose his words in such a way that he knew it would cut Aiden the deepest. Even so, Aiden had to know what was going on with Hope. He couldn't help himself. He still loved her so much. He had never stopped loving her. In fact, he loved her more with every day that passed, even without having seen her since that fateful night he had tried to kill her. He would never forgive himself for that night—not ever.

Andre grinned. "Tell him, father."

Stefano grinned as well. "She is out of a date with Rafael Hernandez again tonight. It's only been a year, but they are already so close. They've also already been sleeping together. Have I told you that?"

Aiden gripped his fork so hard he felt his nails digging into his palm. "Yes, I believe you told me that a few times."

"Did I? Hm. Well, anyway, they're moving along so fast, it wouldn't surprise me if they are engaged, or maybe even married by Christmas," Stefano stated.

"Oh come now, Father. I wouldn't say that soon! Rafe will probably wait until Valentine's Day to make it more romantic," Andre chimed in.

"He can propose on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, or maybe even New Year's Day itself. Then they can have a big, beautiful, Valentine's Day wedding that will not end in Hope being strangled this time," Stefano teased.

"Enough!" Aiden said, slamming his palms down hard on the table. "Not another word about Hope and Rafe! You hear me?" He wanted Hope to be happy. Lord knew she deserved it after the way he had treated her. But the thought of Hope marrying another man while he wasted away in the Dimera dungeon… The thought of Chase having a new father… No. No way in hell.

Andre ignored him. "Oh, I don't know, Father! Maybe we could control Rafe with all the mind-control drugs at our disposal. We could finally have him kill Hope once and for all."

"Stefano nodded. "Rafe would be more capable, being a fellow police officer and all. He could get the job done—especially now with the dearly departed Bo Brady being dead as a doornail."

Aiden felt the anger rise up in him again. "You leave Hope alone, or I swear I'll—"

"You swear you'll what, Jennings?" Andre interrupted. "Hm?" He motioned his hand around the room. "Take a look around! You're chained up in our dungeon in no condition to fight the pope, let alone a Dimera. We will do whatever we please, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it! Anyways, relax. It's much more fun to keep Hope alive and torture you with Hope and Rafe stories. Heck, maybe I can even get a camera installed in Hope's and Rafe's bedrooms with a live feed down here for you to watch. Wouldn't that be nice?"

"You're sick!" Aiden snapped. "You're pure evil. You're twisted, sick, and evil! Both of you! Sick, twisted, and evil!"

Stefano and Andre both laughed.

"Look who's talking! Neither Andre, nor myself is the one who tried to strangle his wife on his wedding night just for the insurance policy money," Stefano stated.

Aiden narrowed his eyes at him. "I wasn't given a choice in the matter, and you know it!"

Andre shook his head and clicked his tongue. "Oh dear, sweet, naïve Aiden. There's always a choice. You made yours, and now you have to deal with the consequences." He nodded at one of the guards. "Strap him back to the bed and sedate him for the night. I'm tired of talking to him."

"But I'm not finished eating yet," Aiden said.

"Now you are. Next time I suggest keeping your mouth shut if you plan on eating your whole meal," Andre said crassly as one of his men took away Aiden's tray and glass.

Aiden tried to fight the two men coming to strap him down, but he was too weak for them. Between the two men, they were a whole lot stronger than he was on his best day.

He cried out in frustration as they strapped him to the gurney and injected his IV with the meds that always knocked him out cold for hours on end.

The last thought in his head as he started to drift off to a deep sleep was Hope being with Rafe, and how he had to get back to her and his son. He couldn't let Rafe take away the love of his life. He couldn't let… He was out cold before he could finish his next thought.

*This love came back to me.*

"Isn't this cake to die for?" Rafe asked, as he and Hope ate their dessert at Chez Rouge.

Hope felt her stomach sink. She hated that term—"to die for". She had seen so much death over the past year. There was Serena, Paige, Will, Aiden, and Bo—just to name a handful. They had finally caught the real necktie killer at the beginning of the year. It had made her feel a little better knowing that Aiden hadn't killed all those people, but still, he had tried to kill her, and she still didn't know why.

"I'm sorry. I can tell by the look on your face that that was a very bad way of putting it. It was insensitive. I'm so sorry." Rafe set his fork down.

Hope shook her head. "No! It's okay. I knew what you meant." She took a bite of her chocolate cake. "It really is delicious." She licked her lips.

"So, Ciara and Chase are both out with friends tonight, huh?" Rafe asked, trying to change the subject.

Hope smiled and nodded. "Yes, they are. Ciara and Theo are at teen night at the club, and Chase and Claire are at the movies with Joey and his new girlfriend."

"Do you feel like heading back to one of our places?" Rafe asked her with a grin. "Too bad they aren't both having a sleepover at a friend's house. We could have spent the whole night together."

Hope smiled, but her heart sank a little. It seemed like just yesterday that she and Aiden had just gotten engaged and Aiden had asked if he and she could have a sleepover.

"Hope, seriously, are you okay?" Rafe asked.

Hope snapped out of it. She had to forget about Aiden. He was dead and gone and had tried to kill her. There was no reason at all he should still be on her mind.

She reached across the table, and took Rafe's hands in her own. "I guess we'll just have to make the most of what time we do have tonight. We'll go to your place just in case the kids get home early." She winked at him and smiled, then kissed his hands

He smiled too, then hailed the waitress down. "Check please!"

Hope grinned; intent on banishing all thoughts of Aiden from her mind—if only for the night.


	2. S1E2

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 _Hope was marrying Rafe. She looked so beautiful—perfect even. She was walking down the aisle toward Rafe. She looked even more beautiful than she had when marrying Aiden—if that were possible._

 _Hope looked at Rafe as if he were the only one in the room and vise-versa._

 _Doug gave her away. "He's perfect for you," Doug whispered in her ear._

 _Hope smiled at her father. "I know." She then took Rafe's hands in her own._

 _When it came time for the vows, Hope went first._

 _"_ _You're the only man I could ever truly count on. You never cheated on me like Bo, or tried to strangle me like Aiden. Ugh! You're so much better than Aiden. Aiden never loved me, and the more I think about it, I never really loved Aiden either. In fact, I'm glad he's dead!"_

Aiden's head shook from side to side as he dreamed. "No!" he cried.

 _Flash to being back home. Chase hugged Rafe. "I'm so glad I have a new father now! My dad was nothing but a psycho. In fact, I don't even consider him my dad any more. He's just that psycho that tried to kill my mom."_

Aiden shook his head even more. He was sweating now. "No!"

 _Rafe hugged Chase tightly. "Don't worry. I'm going to be a better dad to you than Aiden ever was."_

 _Chase smiled up at him. "You already are, Dad."_

 **"** **No!"** Aiden shook himself awake. Sweat was pouring down his face. He tried to sit up, but he was strapped to the gurney. Andre and Stephano hadn't even had the decency to get him a cot, let alone a real bed.

He sighed. He couldn't let that happen. He couldn't let Hope believe that he didn't love her, and he certainly couldn't let her marry Rafe—if things were as headed in that direction as Andre and Stefano had implied. He knew Hope deserved better than a man who tried to strangle her on her wedding night after vowing to love her forever and take care of her. Even so, he loved her too much to let her go. He had to get out of here, and he had to make her understand. He had to. He couldn't let her marry Rafe, and he couldn't let Rafe take over his role as husband to Hope and father to Chase. He _had_ to think of a way out. He just had to! His relationship with both Hope and Chase depended on it.

*This love came back to me.*

Hope kissed Rafe in the park. "We really should be getting back to work," she murmured with a smile. She gently stroked the side of his hair.

He grinned, and pulled her closer by the waist. "I think we have time for another kiss or two."

She grinned, and draped her arms over his shoulders. "Another kiss or two? Or maybe three?"

He grinned. "Or maybe four or five."

She laughed, and they kissed some more.

Rafe then got a text.

They continued kissing.

"Aren't you gonna check that?" Hope asked, after a moment.

"I'm in no hurry to," he said, kissing her again.

She moaned, and kissed him back.

He got another text.

"You better check it. It could be about work," Hope said, pulling away.

Rafe sighed. "All right, all right. But I'm sure it's nothing." He kissed her again before checking his text. He sighed, then looked at her. "Looks like we're going to have to cut this short. Gabi needs me. She didn't say what for. She said she wanted to talk to me about something."

"Well, you have a half hour left of our lunchbreak." Hope held onto the front of his shirt and kissed him. "Go ahead. Send her my love. I'll cover for you if you need more time."

"Are you sure?" Rafe asked.

Hope nodded. "Of course! She's your sister and she needs you. You need to go see what she wants." She kissed him again. "Now go." She pat his chest.

"Thank you. You're the best." He quickly kissed her lips. "I'll see you soon." He then took off.

Hope smiled, and headed out of the park. She felt lucky to have fallen in love again. She had never thought she would fall in love again, but she had. This time, it was with a man she knew she could fully trust. Rafe would never hurt her in the way that Aiden had.

She headed out of the park, and walked down the street, past the cemetery, which was right next to the park. She did a double take when she saw Chase sitting in front of his father's grave, his face in his hands.

Hope sighed. She hated that Chase was still in so much pain. She had tried her best to be there for him, but she knew the loss of his father was a pain he would live with for the rest of his life.

She couldn't get herself to keep walking on by. Chase needed her, and as his mother, it was her job to be there for him.

She headed into the cemetery, and over to Chase. Her heart broke when she heard him sobbing into his hands.

"I miss you, Dad!" Chase said between cries. "I miss you more and more with every day that passes! Why did you have to try to kill Hope? Why did you have to go and get yourself killed? Why did you leave me? I still need you, Dad!"

Hope had tears streaming down her own face now, and her heart was shattering all over again. She knelt down beside Chase and placed an arm around him.

Chase jumped, and looked to see who it was. "Oh. It's you."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," she said, wiping her tears with the back of her freehand.

Chase sniffled and shrugged. "It's okay. I guess we're even now." He weakly smiled at her.

Hope could tell his smile was only half-hearted. "Oh, Honey, come here." She pulled him against her chest, and held him tightly.

Chase then sobbed into her chest as she gently rubbed his back. Chase was a very emotional person. Most boys his age would try to be tough, and not want to cry in front of anyone, let alone their mother, but not Chase. Chase wore his heart on his sleeve, and she loved him even more for it.

After a minute, Chase stopped crying. He pulled away from Hope, and sniffled. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

Hope dug into her purse and took out a tissue. She handed it to him.

"Thanks," he said, taking the tissue and blowing his nose.

"Don't ever apologize for missing your father. You loved him, and he loved you. It's perfectly normal to grieve over him," Hope said, wiping his tears with her thumbs.

"I feel guilty though, after what he did to you," Chase said quietly.

"He was once a good man. He did love you, and I know now after I've had time to heal that he must have loved me. He just…had some mental issues going on that he needed help with yet unfortunately never got," Hope said. She was at a good place about it now. Plus, every day she saw Chase, it reminded her of the good Aiden had in him. He had been a good man, who raised an amazing son. He just lost his way somewhere along the way. She would always remember him for the man he once was. She would also always remember the man he turned out to be, but she would try to let the good dominate the bad. After all, she did have more good memories with Aiden than bad. Though, the one bad thing was not something she could ever overlook, she had to keep the good Aiden in her heart and mind for both her sake and Chase's.

Chase stood up. "I gotta get back to school."

"That's right, you're supposed to be in school," Hope said, standing up and crossing her arms over her chest.

Chase looked down at the grass. "I'm sorry. I wasn't hungry, and I really needed to see Dad, so I sneaked out on my lunch period."

Hope sighed. She hugged him. "It's all right. Just get back to school before anyone notices you're gone. All right?"

Chase hugged her back. "I will. Thanks, Mom. I love you."

Hope felt her heart swell with love for him. She loved him as if she had given birth to him herself. "I love you too." The first time he had called her mom, she had had tears of happiness in her eyes. Almost a year later, and it still made her tear-up.

Chase then left for school.

Hope sighed, and looked at Aiden's tombstone. She placed her hand on top of it. "I'm trying to take care of him the best I can. He's got a girlfriend now—Claire, my granddaughter. I know it's kind of weird with him calling me mom. It's like Claire is both his cousin and girlfriend. I suppose it's okay though since he's not blood related to her. I do love him as if he were blood related though." Hope sighed. "Chase is one of the few things I have to remind me of yours and my happier times. I still don't know why you did what you did, but I know you must have loved me at some point. I did love you too. Oddly enough, part of me will always love you. I'll always love the man you were before you did what you did." She started at his tombstone a moment more, then left for the police station. She had work to do, and lingering in the past wasn't going to get it done.

*This love came back to me.*

"I feel fine. I don't need to go to the damn hospital!" Stefano grumbled as Andre wheeled him toward the door. He coughed again, this time even more forceful than the previous coughs of the day.

"You've been coughing all day, and it's only getting worse. If you catch pneumonia, or anything else of the sort, we need to know now before it gets worse. At your age, you need to catch these things quickly," Andre replied.

"Oh please! Like you care if I live or die," Stephano grumbled. "Look, it's starting to storm. I hate going out in the rain!"

"Oh, quit your bitching! You are my father, and it's my duty to look after you," Andre said as he wheeled Stephano out of the mansion. "Storm or no storm, you need to get checked out."

Moments after they left, Chad came into the mansion. He and Abigail had their own place now with their son. However, he liked to stop by from time to time to make sure that all was well with Stefano. He knew Stefano hadn't been well lately. As much as he and his father didn't see eye to eye when it came to certain things, family was still family, and Stefano and Andre were all he had. _Sadly_.

"Father? Andre? Is anyone here?" he asked, looking around the living room.

"Mr. Dimera, your brother has taken your father to the hospital for a checkup. He has had a bad cough all day. They left just moments before you got here," Harold, the butler informed him.

"Is he going to be all right?" Chad asked with concern.

"Your father was griping about being fine, but your brother wanted to take him anyway just in case. He thinks it could be pneumonia," Harold explained.

"All right. I'll stick around a bit. Thanks for the info," Chad replied.

Harold then went back to whatever it was he was doing.

Chad sighed. "I might as well wait here for them to return I guess. I have nothing better to do. Plus, I do _not_ feel like going back out in that downpour." He plopped himself down onto the couch. Abigail was spending the day shopping with Jennifer. They had brought Tommy with them to buy new things for him as well. Abagail had wanted to name their baby Thomas after Tom Horton, and Chad had agreed, much to Stefano's dismay.

Chad looked around, and he saw a new picture on the mantle. It was a framed photograph of him, Abigail, and Tommy, taken six months ago.

He walked over to the mantle and picked it up. He had given Stefano a copy, but he didn't think it had meant all that much to Stefano. Stefano and Abigail weren't exactly each other's biggest fans. Chad was touched Stefano had bothered to not only keep it, but frame it and put it up on the mantle.

He set it back on the mantle. His eye then caught hold of a big, glass, phoenix statuette, so he picked it up and smirked. "Where did this come from? It doesn't look like father's style."

Suddenly, a clap of thunder hit so loudly that it scared Chad and caused him to drop the phoenix. It fell and broke on the cement ledge of the fireplace opening.

"Great! Just what I need," Chad grumbled. He bent down and started carefully picking up the pieces of glass. He hoped the statuette wasn't anything important to Stefano. Maybe he could try to glue it back together, he figured. It was in big enough pieces. He saw the head had broken off and fallen toward the back wall of the fireplace.

"Where the heck is the fireplace gate anyway?" he muttered as he reached in and grabbed for the head. As he was reaching, he rested his freehand against the back wall of the fireplace for support. "I'm getting too old for this kind of thing," he grumbled as he stretched to reach the phoenix head. Suddenly, he fell forward. "What the heck?" he asked. He looked over and saw that the back wall of the fireplace that he had been resting his hand on had moved into a partially sideways formation. "Another secret tunnel?" he asked himself.

He set the phoenix head aside, then climbed into the fireplace, making sure not to kneel on any glass. He pushed the door the rest of the way open so that the back wall of the fireplace was now entirely in a sideways position. He slipped through the hole, and saw there was a staircase leading down to a small hallway.

"How did I live here all those years and never know about this?" he asked to no one in particular. He headed down the stairs, wondering where the heck the stairs were going to lead him. Knowing his father and Andre, he had a feeling it couldn't be good.

*This love came back to me*

"Thank you for joining us for family night," Hope said to Chase and Claire. I wish Ciara would join us."

Claire rolled her eyes. "She thinks family night is lame."

"She thinks a lot of things are lame," Chase quipped.

Claire nodded. "I know, right?"

There was a knock on the door.

Hope smiled. "That must be Rafe."

Chase looked at her in surprise. "Rafe? Come on! Rafe's not family!"

Hope looked at him in surprise. "I thought you were okay with me dating him."

Chase nodded. "I am, but being okay with you dating him and considering him family are two entirely different things. I mean, come on, Mom. My father and Bo haven't even been dead a year yet, and you're already calling Rafe family?"

Hope felt like crying. He could feel the tears start to well up in her eyes. However, she held herself together. She guessed she could see where Chase was coming from. "You're right. I'm sorry. If you want it to be just the three of us, it can be just the three of us."

Chase sighed. "No, you already invited him. You can't be rude. Just next time please let it be just us."

Hope nodded, and smiled at him. "I can do that." She walked over to the door and let Rafe in.

They greeted each other, then kissed each other on the cheek. When in front of Chase, they always toned down the PDA in respect for him.

"So, pizza and a movie, huh?" Rafe asked, sitting down in the plush armchair next to the couch "What are we watching?"

" _Tommy Boy_. It's old, but classic!" Chase said.

Claire nodded. "I wish Chris Farley were still alive. He was so funny!"

Hope sat on the couch the side closest to Rafe.

"Yeah, Chris Farley is awesome! You know, I've never seen _Tommy Boy_. Is it good?"

"You've never seen _Tommy Boy_?" Claire asked in surprise.

"Dude, it's the best! It's _so_ funny. You're really going to love it," Chase assured him.

"If it meets your approval, I'm sure I will," Rafe said with a grin at Chase.

Chase grinned back at him.

Hope smiled as she saw her son and Rafe smiling at each other. She was happy to see them getting along! Rafe was good with Chase, and Chase seemed to be warming up to him—even if it was only a little bit. Right now, that was all she could ask for.

*This love came back to me*

There was a door along one side of the hallway. Chad tried to open it, but it was locked. Lucky for him, he was a pro at picking locks. He supposed every good Dimera was.

He pulled out his wallet, then took out a credit card, and slid it through the crack of the door. It took him a few tries, but eventually the door popped open.

"You're behind on your game lately, Father," he muttered to himself as he put his credit card back in his wallet, then shoved his wallet back in his pocket. "It must be Andre's work. Father would have put a pass code on the door." Chad smirked, and shook his head. "Andre will never be as bright as Father even though he believes he is smarter than father."

Chad walked into the room, and immediately saw a man strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm.

"Oh my gosh, who did he kidnap now?" Chad asked, rushing over to the gurney.

The man had his eyes closed; he was sleeping—what looked like soundly. However, Chad recognized the man right way.

Chad's mouth dropped open. "Aiden Jennings?"


	3. S1E3

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 1, Episode_** ** _3:_**

Aiden was still sleeping. From the looks of it, they had him good and drugged.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Chad asked out loud. He looked at the IV going into Aiden's arm. "And what the hell are they drugging you with?" He debated on whether or not he should pull the IV out. He didn't know anything about medical things. He didn't want to hurt Aiden by pulling out the IV. Then again, Aiden was out cold. He wouldn't feel any pain if he were to ease the needle out. That's all there was to it, he assumed—just removing the needle. At least, he hoped.

He carefully and gently pulled out the needle, then let it drop. It hung from the IV bag, dangling inches above the floor, and dripping whatever drugs was in the bag on the floor.

He then started to undo the bindings on the gurney, but then stopped. Aiden had tried to kill Hope. What if he was dangerous, and tried to kill him as well?

As Chad was debating, Aiden's eyes slowly fluttered open.

Aiden coughed. "Chad?"

Chad looked down at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know. Just lying around," Aiden said weakly.

Chad rolled his eyes at him. "Now's not the time to make jokes, Jennings. Tell me what the hell you're doing here. Did my father or brother kidnap you? Or both?"

"I have no recollection of how I got here. All I remember is waking up on this gurney with a needle strapped in my arm, and Andre and Stefano staring down at me." Aiden looked at both his arms. "The needle's gone," he said in surprise.

Chad nodded. "I removed it. Until now, I thought you were dead."

"Apparently, your brother and father wanted me alive. I'm not sure exactly the details, but I do know they had their surgeons perform heart surgery on me, which saved my life. I don't know how. I was shot in the heart!" Aiden replied.

"That's one good thing about being kidnapped by my father. He has connections to the best heart surgeons in the world. They are capable of doing things regular surgeons can't." Chad shrugged. "You'd be surprised at what money can buy."

"I wouldn't know," Aiden said dryly. "Look, Chad, I worked as your lawyer. I know you're nothing like your father and brother. Can you please get me out of here?"

Chad sighed. "I don't know. You tried to kill Hope. Why should I let you go? What? Do you want to go finish her off?"

"I'd never hurt Hope!" Aiden snapped.

"Hurt her? Aiden, you tried to kill her! What? Did those drugs that were being put into you demolish your memory?"

Aiden sighed. "Look, I had no choice. I owed your brother and father a lot of money, and I do mean a _lot_ of money. They said that if I didn't pay them back the money, they were going to kill my son. I love Hope with all my heart and all my soul. If it were just my life, I would have died for her. But Chad, we're talking about my son's life. My son will always come first to me. He has to. I'm his father, and it's my responsibility to look out for him and make sure he is safe. I had no choice. I had to change her life insurance policy and then disguise myself as the necktie killer and…" He trailed off unable to say out loud that he had tried to kill Hope. "It was the only way. She didn't have that kind of money as long as she was alive, and there was nowhere else I could get it from."

Chad shook his head. "You could have gone to Hope about it, you know. She _is_ a cop, Aiden. It's her job to protect people from crooks like my brother and father."

"You know your brother and father more than anybody. If I had gone to the cops, do you really think they would have just surrendered, and forgotten about the money I owe them?" Aiden shook his head the best he could with being strapped down. "No. They would have found a way to get to my son no matter what."

"Well, then you should have come to me! I know how to handle my father and brother. It didn't have to go down that way!" Chad insisted.

"You were in prison at the time. I couldn't!" Aiden insisted. "Anyway, I was your ticket out. They would have killed me and my son both if I had ruined your chances of getting out."

Chad shook his head. "I should have connected the two. My brother admitted to me that he was going to have someone pose as the necktie killer to get me out of jail. Still, I didn't think he'd hire _you_. You were just my lawyer. I really thought you were the actual killer until I remembered it was Ben."

"Look, I know I messed up!" Aiden said, tears in his eyes, and his voice rising. He softened his voice. "But just the _thought_ of my son being killed made me go crazy. I couldn't think straight! And, let's face it. I'm weak. Sure I can stand up to myself over people I clearly have the power over, like Clyde. But when it comes to people who have the power over me, like your family…. I'm weak and pathetic. I never should have tried to kill Hope. You're right. I should have gone to her, or taken Chase out of town, or anything but try to kill the love of my life. Thank God Bo Brady came home when he did and saved her. I deserved to be shot. A part of me wishes I had been left to die."

Chad placed his hand over Aiden's shoulder. "Look. We all do dumb things. True, I never tried to kill anyone before, but I know a lot of people in Salem who have—my brother and father included."

"Great! I've become just like them," Aiden said sadly.

"Except, there's a difference. They forced you to do what you did. You didn't do it out of malice like they do. And, in case you don't know, Abigail's baby turned out to be mine. I have a son now, and I know that if I were in the same position, and I really felt there was no other way to save his life, I'd do the same thing. I'm sure Abigail would as well. Parents will do anything to protect their children. True, killing their spouse to protect their child isn't something you normally see, but…" Chad shrugged. "It's Salem. We all know crazy stuff always goes down in Salem. Anyway, the bottom line is, I get it. It may not have been right, and it may not have been smart, but I get why you did it, and I'm gonna help you get out of here."

"You are? Oh, thank you, Chad! You won't regret it, I promise! I don't know where I'm going to stand as far as my career goes, but if I'm ever allowed to practice law again, you will have my services pro bono for life!" Aiden promised. "Of course, I'm going to have to deal with how I'm going to get out of what I did first, but I have to let Hope know why I did what I did even if it lands me in jail."

"Yeah, well let's just concentrate on getting you out of here first. All right?" Chad asked.

Aiden nodded.

Chad began to undo Aiden's restraints. "My brother has my father at the hospital for a checkup, but that was a while ago, so we have to hurry up."

"There's not much I can do to hurry," Aiden joked weakly.

"Ha, ha, you're hilarious," Chad said sarcastically. "You're the only one I know who can joke while being held captive."

"Do you know many other people who have been held captive?" Aiden continued to joke.

Chad got the last of the restraints undone and smirked at him. "I'm part of the Dimera family. Need I say more?"

"Good point," Aiden said. "I'm gonna need some help."

Chad helped Aiden sit up, then wrapped an arm around him and carefully helped him off the gurney. "We have to get out of here quickly. We can take the tunnels so we won't be seen in case Father and Andre get back in the meantime."

Chad and Aiden both jumped; startled when they heard an all too familiar voice.

"Well it's a little late for that now, isn't it?" Andre asked.

Chad and Aiden both looked up to see Andre standing in the doorway.

Chad sighed. "Oh crap."

Andre grinned widely. "Oh crap indeed." His smile disappeared just like that, and his smile turned to an angry scowl. "For you two anyway."

Aiden and Chad looked at each other, the color drained from both their faces.

*This love came back to me.*

The movie ended, and they all stood up.

Claire stretched. "That was even funnier this time around!" She turned to Rafe. "So, what did you think?"

"It was great!" Rafe said not sounding too enthused, but smiling big anyway.

Chase gave him a look of disbelief. "You hated it, didn't you?"

Rafe hesitated. "No, I didn't hate it, I just…"

Hope smiled, and pat his back. "It's all right." She kissed his cheek. "Everyone has a different sense of humor. If we were all the same, we'd be boring."

"I don't know how he doesn't find _Tommy Boy_ funny. Hello, Chris Farley and David Spade! Who doesn't mind them funny?" Chase asked, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Apparently me," Rafe said with a weak smile; his best attempt at joking around.

Chase rolled his eyes.

"Chase, come on. Don't be like that. He didn't find the movie funny. It's not like he insulted your best friend," Hope said; half amused.

"Whatever. He shouldn't have been invited anyway," Chase said.

"Chase! That was rude and uncalled for. Apologize right now!" Hope snapped.

Chase sighed. "I'm sorry, Rafe. I just don't see why you had to come to family night when you're not family. I don't care how close you've gotten with my mom. You're not my dad, nor will you ever be, and I will certainly never consider you family."

"Chase…" Hope warned.

"No, it's okay. I get it. Chase is entitled to feel the way he feels. And, for the record, I would never try to be your dad," Rafe said, directing his last statement toward Chase.

"Yeah, because who would ever want to be my dad—the attempted murderer—right?" Chase snapped.

"Okay, now you're just twisting my words," Rafe said calmly.

Chase raised an eyebrow, his arms still crossed over his chest. "Am I?"

"I think it's time I say goodnight." Rafe nodded at Claire. "You need a ride home?"

Claire grabbed her purse. "That would be great, Rafe. Thank you."

"I'll walk you out," Hope said, taking Rafe's arm and leading him out the front door.

Claire stayed back to talk with Chase. "You don't gotta be rude, you know."

Chase sighed. "I'm just sick of him trying to be all up in Hope's life. He was even before my dad was dead. Everyone saw it. It didn't take him long to swoop in after my dad and Bo died."

Clair placed a hand over his shoulder. "I get it. I can see how you'd be annoyed. But sometimes, love just happens. No one can help it."

Chase rolled his eyes. "My mom does not love Rafe. She is in love with the _idea_ of being in love. There's a difference."

Claire smirked. "Just try to be nice to Rafe. All right? If not for his sake, then for your mom's."

Chase sighed. "All right, fine. But I don't have to like it!"

Claire grinned, then kissed his cheek. "Goodnight."

Meanwhile, Hope kissed Rafe softly on the lips. "I'm sorry about that," she said, gently stroking his cheek. "He'll come around eventually. I promise."

Rafe raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that?"

Hope nodded. "It's just going to take some time. He doesn't like the thought of me with anyone but his dad. Despite what Aiden did, he was still a good father to Chase, and Chase loved him very much. Try to be a little understanding. All right?"

Rafe kissed Hope sweetly on the lips, and stroked her cheek. "All right, I'll do it. For you."

Hope grinned. "Thank you." They kissed once more.

"Goodnight," Rafe said.

Hope smiled. "Goodnight." She stroked his cheek one last time.

Claire came out then. "Thanks for tonight, Grandma."

Hope winced.

Claire laughed. "Mother of my father?" she tried.

Hope nodded. "That's much easier to take!"

They both laughed, then hugged.

"Goodnight my sweet Claire!" Hope said, kissing the top of her head.

"Goodnight," Claire replied. She then left with Rafe.

Hope waved to them until they were out of sight, then went back in the house.

"Save me the lecture, all right? I'll apologize to him the next time I see him," Chase muttered.

Hope sighed. "I wasn't going to lecture you." She walked over to him and hugged him tightly. Then she kissed the top of his head. "Goodnight. I love you."

Chase relaxed in her arms. "I love you too, Mom."

Hope then headed upstairs. She was exhausted, and just wanted to sleep. She knew she shouldn't think it, but a part of her wondered what her life would be like now if Aiden had never tried to kill her, and if Bo had never come back. She would be married to Aiden, and they would be raising Chase together.

She sighed as she headed into her room and closed the door behind her. She supposed there was no use in what ifs. Aiden had tried to kill her, Bo had come back (and died), and now she had moved on with Rafe. That was just the way it was. There was no use in looking back.

*This love came back to me.*

"Whatever are you doing, dear Brother?" Andre asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm getting your prisoner out of here." Chad tried to push Aiden past Andre, but Andre stood firmly in the doorway, and placed a hand over Chad's chest. "Not so fast, Brother. Now what makes you think I'm just going to let you just walk out of here with my prisoner?"

"I will tell the cops on you if you don't let him go," Chad said coldly, his eyes locked with Andre's.

Andre laughed. "Ah, but you see, if you tell the cops, then Mr. Jennings here will be put away for life for trying to kill his beloved wife."

"Being in jail has got to be better than being strapped to a gurney with drugs pumped into me all day long," Aiden snapped.

Andre ignored Aiden and kept his attention on Chad. "He owes me money—a lot of money. Now he must work it off or suffer the consequences."

"Give me a break! You know this family is as rich as it gets. I'm sure whatever you lent to Aiden is pocket change to you!" Chad snapped.

Andre shrugged. "Maybe so, but it's more about principle than it is the money, Chad. The Dimeras have a reputation to maintain."

Chad raised an eyebrow. "I think he's paid enough. You've made him try to kill his wife, and he died. True, you brought him back to life, but—"

Andre cut him off. "I'm going to stop you right there. Contrary to popular belief, Mr. Jennings did not die. Oh, he was close to death, sure. But he wasn't dead. The bullet just grazed his heart. It missed the pulmonary artery just by mere centimeters, lucky for him. Or, not lucky, depending on how you look at it. His heartbeat was too low to detect, as was his breathing. As soon as I heard what happened, I had the ambulance workers under our payroll make sure that the body got brought straight to the Dimera mansion so that our team of surgeons could fix the damage that had been done."

"Who's in Aiden's grave?" Chad asked.

Andre continued to explain. "Seeing as the residents of Salem are too heartless to have given Aiden a funeral—even for Chase's sake—it was easy. You should know by now Chad, that the Dimeras have people all over town. Our people in the morgue made sure some John Doe that nobody would miss was buried in his grave. No one even bothered to check and see who was in the casket. They just wanted him buried and forgotten about so that they could go about their lives and try to pretend that Aiden had never existed, and that he had never tried to strangle Hope. Of course, Bo Brady's death made it even easier for them to forget. Except for poor Chase, but no one really seems to care about him now, do they?"

Aiden clenched his fists. "Let us go so that I can explain to my son why I did what I did and that his father is not a monster. He needs me now more than ever."

Andre shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Well, I'm not letting you keep him hostage, so I'm afraid you have no choice this time, _Brother_!" Chad snapped.

Andre's eyes grew cold as they bore into Chad's. "We'll just see about that now, won't we?"

Chad kept his eyes locked with Andre's, not about to back down. Not this time.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Stefano asked, wheeling his chair into the room.

"How did you get in here through the fireplace?" Chad asked, temporarily distracted.

Stefano rolled his eyes. "Don't be an idiot! I took a more handicap accessible tunnel. The fireplace is not the only way to get down here, you know."

Chad shook his head. "Whatever. I'm getting Aiden out of here. Tell your other son to let us go."

Stefano crossed his arms over his chest, and nodded at Chad. "You're free to go." He then motioned towards Aiden. "Aiden Jennings, however, is not."

Chad and Aiden looked at each other.

Chad then bore his eyes into Stefano's. "Well, that's a shame you see, because I'm not leaving until you let him go."

Stefano and Chad kept their eyes locked, and their arms crossed over their chests. Neither one was going to budge.

Aiden swallowed hard. It was two Dimeras against one. Sure he could try to help Chad, but he was still weak from being held captive for almost year. He didn't know how on earth he was going to get out of this one, but there was no turning back now. He was going to get out of here, and this time, he was _not_ going to die trying.


	4. S1E4

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 1 Episode 4:_**

"Move out of the way. Now," Chad barked.

Stefano shook his head. "The way you talk to your father after all that I've done for you."

"You both know that neither of you have any right to keep this man prisoner," Chad said, trying his best to keep his cool.

"He owes us money that he did not repay," Andre snapped.

"So? That doesn't give you the right to hold him prisoner!" Chad snapped back.

Andre shrugged. "He should be grateful. I practically saved his life."

"It was because of you that I nearly died to begin with!" Aiden said angrily, his eyes boring into Andre's.

Andre shrugged. "I never forced you to try to kill Hope."

Aiden clenched his fists. "You said you would kill my son—and me for that matter—if I didn't. I'd say that is forcing me."

"I didn't stop you from going to Hope or any other law-abiding officer. You could have found another way to pay off your debt. It didn't have to go down the way it did," Andre reasoned.

"I had no other way, and you know it!" Aiden snapped.

"Father, if you don't let Aiden go, I will never allow you to see Thomas again," Chad told Stefano; ignoring Andre and Aiden's argument.

Stefano's eyes grew dark. "You wouldn't. You cannot! I will not permit it!"

Chad laughed. "I'm not a little boy anymore, Father. I'm an adult, and if I don't want you seeing my son, you're not going to see my son. You know Rafe and I are what they call, 'besties' now. I'm sure he can make it legal for me. You will not be allowed within a hundred feet of your grandson."

"Try it!" Stefano snapped, his eyes flashing with anger, and his fist shaking in the air.

"Oh, I'm not just going to try; I'm going to succeed," Chad said.

Stefano and Chad had a staring contest.

Andre rolled his eyes. "Oh, give me a break! He's bluffing. He wouldn't deny the child seeing his grandfather—especially not when little Thomas is already without his other grandfather."

"Why do you care so much about Aiden Jennings anyway?" Stefano grumbled.

"He was good to me when I needed a lawyer, and I consider him a friend. Anyway, it's wrong to keep _anyone_ chained up in your dungeon no matter what they have done or what they owe. Now let him go. Now!" Chad ordered.

"Not a chance!" Andre snapped. "I don't give a crap if I never see that little brat again! I never wanted to see the bloody thing to begin with!"

Chad whipped around to face Andre. "Don't you ever call my son that again!"

"What? A brat? Well that's what he is. He cries and whines all the time. Are you sure he isn't really Ben's after all? He seems to have a bit of psycho in him already," Andre taunted.

Chad tried to hold in his anger, but he couldn't hold it in. Not now after Andre had goaded him into a fight. Chad raised his fist, but Andre caught it.

"Oh, don't you dare try to punch me, little brother, or you will regret it!" Andre said calmly.

Chad smirked; his eyes locked with Andre's. "What are you going to do, hm? Lock me up as well?" His eyes fell upon Aiden, who looked with his eyes toward Chad, and then at the IV pouch that had some of the sleep-inducing drugs still in it. He looked at Chad again, and then at Andre. Chad understood what Aiden wanted to do. At least, he hoped he did.

Chad walked over to Stefano, and turned his chair at an angle so that Stefano would not be able to see what Aiden was about to do.

"What are you doing?" Stefano grumbled.

"I don't want you to have to see your son taking out your other son; me being the one doing the taking out of course," Chad replied.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Stefano snapped.

Chad ignored him, leaving Stefano's back turned toward him as he marched over to Andre.

"Bring it on, little Brother. But before you decide to fight me, you might want to think it through. Are you sure that you want your fiancé and baby to have to worry about their precious fiancé and father being put in the hospital?" Andre asked.

Chad smirked. "They aren't going to have to worry about that. And as for Abigail's soon-to-be brother-in-law and Tommy's uncle, I think they will get over it. After all, you said yourself, you never wanted to be part of Tommy's life. I'm sure you feel the same way about Abigail."

While Chad and Andre were bantering, Aiden sneaked over to the IV needle, and picked it up. He knew Andre would hear the wheels from the IV pole if he didn't wait until he was fully distracted, so he waited.

Andre grinned at Chad. "To show you what a good brother I am, I'll even let you get in the first pun-"

Before Andre could finish his sentence, Chad punched him hard in the face, knowing he had to keep Andre distracted. Plus, he had to admit, it felt good to finally punch the son of a bitch.

"Oh, you're going to regret that, Brother!" Andre said, punching Chad in the face in return.

Aiden knew now was his chance. He wheeled the pole over toward Andre fast enough to get there before being noticed, but not fast enough for the noise to catch Andre's attention.

Chad gave Andre another punch, and when Andre was about to punch back, Aiden held the needle high, then slammed it down hard into the back of Andre's neck.

Andre cried out half in surprise and half in pain. He whipped around and saw Aiden standing there with the IV pole and bag by his side.

"What did you do to me, you fool?" Andre snapped. He felt the needle in the back of his neck and pulled it out, but it was too late. He was already starting to feel the effects of the drugs in his system. After all, the drug was a general anesthesia that was supposed to be used on patients in a hospital who were about to undergo the knife.

Aiden smirked. "You didn't seem to care about the dangers to me by giving me such a drug for a purpose it wasn't meant for. Well, now I in return, have no problem giving it to you."

Andre stumbled toward him. "I'm gonna… Make you…" He collapsed before he could get out the word, "Pay."

"What happened? What the hell did you just do, Chad?" Stefano cried out.

"Great idea! I didn't think you had it in you!" Chad said, to Aiden, patting him on the back.

Aiden shook his head. "Never underestimate a lawyer."

Chad laughed. "Ain't that the truth? Now let's get out of here." As he passed by Stefano, he turned to him and said, "Don't send anyone to try and stop us. When Andre wakes up, I expect you to handle him. Then and only then will I allow you to ever see my son again."

"What did you do?" Stefano repeated.

"Sorry. No time to chat I'm sure Andre will fill you in when he wakes up." Chad said before taking off with Aiden out of the room, up the stairs, out of the fireplace, through the Dimera living room, and finally, out the front door.

Aiden breathed in the fresh air. "It feels so good to see the outside again and breathe in the fresh air!" he said.

"So what do we do now?" Chad asked.

"I need to see Hope. I need to tell her why I did what I did," Aiden said simply.

"She's going to be shocked and even frightened when she sees you. It won't be very easy for her to take. I better come with you to help soften the blow," Chad reasoned.

Aiden had wanted to go by himself, but Chad made sense. He knew it might make Hope feel safer if Chad were with him. "All right. Let's go. Can you call her and find out where she's at? If she's at the station, well…"

"It wouldn't be a good idea to meet her there," Chad finished for him.

Aiden nodded. "Exactly.

Chad nodded as well, and took out his phone. "I'll call her."

"Thanks," Aiden said as he watched Chad dial her number. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. He had gotten over the first hurdle; now it was time to get over the second hurdle. Somehow, he had a feeling that this hurdle was going to be even more difficult than the first.

*This love came back to me.*

It was a slow day at the station. Rafe and Lani had were out investigating a break in at the Town Square. Hope had let Lani go instead of her. She knew Lani was feeling down about not getting to take on many cases, and she knew how much Lani liked Rafe. She also knew that Rafe wasn't in to Lani in the way that Lani was in to him, so she didn't mind doing this favor for Lani. She was sure Lani would never act on her feelings for Rafe since he was, in a manner of speaking, off the market.

Hope sighed. Of course, her good deed made it so that she now had to do Lani's assignment, which was looking over a cold case file.

"Cold cases," she muttered to herself, shaking her head. She knew a lot of times cold cases could be solved even years after the crime. DNA technology was a lot better now than it was back then, as was technology in general, so new developments were discovered all the time. Even so, it was so tedious looking into the list of suspects again, or even finding new suspects.

She yawned and stretched. As her stomach growled, she realized she hadn't eaten anything other than a granola bar with her morning coffee. She glanced at the clock. It was one o'clock. "No wonder I'm hungry," she murmured. She usually took her lunchbreak at noon.

She closed the folder and put it back in the filing cabinet, then grabbed her purse. The case had been cold for ten years. She doubted one more hour was going to hurt anything.

She was about to head out when her phone rang. She looked at the number and was surprised to see that Chad Dimera was calling her.

"What could he possibly want?" she asked herself. She headed out of the station as she slid the button over to answer the call. "Yes, Chad, what can I help you with?"

"Hope, hi. I am not sure if you're busy now or now, but I really need to talk to you. Do you think we could meet in the park any time soon?"

"Um… Sure. I'm on my lunchbreak right now, so we could do it now I guess. "What's this all about?"

"It's something that is better if I discuss it with you in person," Chad replied.

Hope was intrigued. "All right. I'll be right over." She hung up her phone, then headed for her car. She wondered what in the world Chad could possibly want. Maybe it had to do with a surprise for Abigail.

She headed to the park, the whole ride there thinking of the different things Chad could possibly want.

*This love came back to me.*

Chad clicked off his phone. "I called her. She'll be here in a few minutes."

"Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me," Aiden said.

"I kind of feel I owe it to you," Chad replied.

Aiden looked at him in surprise. "Why? I know I was your lawyer, but I didn't do you much good. You still ended up in jail, then I went and died on you. Well, almost died anyway. Though, posing as the necktie killer did get you off the hook." He smiled weakly, but Chad could tell his heart wasn't in it.

Chad shook his head. "I'm not talking about that. Not in the way you think anyway. I owe you for getting me off the hook. I feel that, even though it was my brother and father's doing and not mine, I need to make up for the fact that they kept you prisoner all this time."

Aiden shrugged. "It's my own fault. Had I not gotten myself into so much debt, I never would have gotten involved with them in the first place. Then I had to go do something stupid and try to kill my wife."

Chad placed his hand over Aiden's shoulder. "You did it for your son, and they made you do it to get me out of jail. So even though I didn't ask them to make you do it to get me off the hook, I still feel responsible. I told my brother not to do it, but you know my brother. No one tells him what to do or what not to do—ever."

Aiden nodded. "I know that's right."

"Chad? Are you here? Where are you?" came Hope's voice from a few feet away.

Aiden and Chad exchanged wide-eyed glances.

"Go! Hide!" Chad whisper ordered.

Aiden did as told, quickly ducking into the woodsy area and crouching down, but staying close enough that he would be able to hear Chad and Hope's conversation.

"I'm over here, Hope!" Chad called out.

Hope came into the clearing then. "Hey. What's up?"

Chad sat down on the bench, and motioned for her to sit down next to him.

"So what's this about?" she asked again after sitting down next to him.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about Aiden," Chad said, coming right out with it.

Hope stiffened. "What about Aiden?" she asked cautiously.

"I know for a fact that the reason he tried to kill you was all because my brother and father blackmailed him into doing so," Chad said. He paused to gauge her reaction.

Hope was silent for a moment. She blinked at him. "What are you talking about?" she asked slowly.

Chad sighed. "Aiden owed a lot of money—and I do mean a _lot_ of money. My brother and father paid off his debt to the bookie. However, that meant that Aiden now owned _them_ money. Now, this was when people still thought I was the necktie killer. My brother figured that if he could get Aiden to kill you posing as the necktie killer, then I would be free. He would in return, wipe Aiden's debt free."

"How do you know all of this?" Hope asked, her voice filled with disbelief.

"I was informed." Chad held up a hand. "Let me finish. They told Aiden that they would kill Chase if he didn't kill you. So, in other words, if he let you live, then his son would end up six-feet under. He was later even threatened for his own life along with his son's. He felt he had to kill you; that there was no other way to save his son."

"Who informed you of this?" Hope asked, her voice cold.

"This is going to be a shock for you, Hope," Chad began.

Hope's voice was even yet forceful. "Who informed you, Chad?"

Chad let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. "Aiden. Aiden Jennings, and then my brother confirmed it." He winced and looked at Hope. For some reason he was almost afraid she was going to hit him.

"When did Aiden tell you this, and why did you wait a year to tell me all this? Did you know before I was almost killed?" Her tone was angry now as she stood up, her fists clenched at her sides.

Chad stood up as well. "I knew my brother had planned on sending someone to act as the necktie killer. I tried to tell the police, but since I was locked up, and they thought I was the necktie killer, they didn't take me seriously. I didn't know it was Aiden that was going to do it, and I certainly didn't know you were going to be the victim. Hope, I was frantic in trying to stop this, but like I said, the police just wouldn't listen!"

"You didn't answer my question, Chad. Why did you sit on this info for a year?" Hope asked, her fists still clenched at her sides.

"Until my memory that the killer was Ben returned, I just assumed Aiden really was the killer. Even when we found out Ben really was the killer, it just didn't click for some reason that Aiden was who my brother hired," he said calmly. "I was distracted by Abigail and the baby, and wasn't thinking about anything but keeping them safe."

Hope raised an eyebrow. "But you said that Aiden told you the truth."

Chad nodded. "He did. That's another reason I wanted to talk to you today. I wanted to help prepare you."

"Prepare me for what, Chad?" Hope looked at her watch. "I only have 45 minutes left of my break and I'm starving, so spit it out!"

"Today I was over at my father's mansion and I accidentally came across a secret room I never knew existed. I went in to explore it, and that is when I found that my brother and father have secretly been keeping Aiden prisoner. He was strapped to a gurney."

Hope shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. "Aiden's dead, Chad. Have you been drinking? You're acting delusional."

Chad shook his head. "I haven't had a drop of alcohol in days. I'm telling you the truth, Hope."

Hope uncrossed her arms and scowled at Chad. "Look, I don't know what kind of sick, Dimera mind game you're trying to play, but—"

"It's not a mind game, Hope. I'll prove it to you." Chad looked toward the wooded area. "Aiden…"

Aiden slowly made his way out from the trees, and walked over to Hope. "Hello, Hope."

Hope's face turned pale as a sheet. "Aiden? No. No, you're dead! I saw your dead body! You were shot in the heart!" She stepped back.

Aiden shook his head. "I only appeared to be dead. Andre had the EMTs bring my body to the mansion. Stefano's surgeon saved my life, then, like Chad said, they held me prisoner for a year. I know it's a lot to take in, but if you just let me explain, I—"

Hope narrowed her eyes angrily at him. "You can explain down at the precinct!"

Aiden was taken aback. "I don't understand, I—"

Hope took off her cuffs, stormed over to Aiden, and cuffed him. "Aiden Jennings, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of well, me. Kind of a poetic justice, isn't it? Me getting to arrest the man who tried to kill me?"

"Hope, wait! Please! Just let me explain," Aiden begged. He knew she'd be angry, but he didn't think she'd arrest him without at least letting him explain first. Didn't any part of her still love him?

Hope ignored his pleas. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law."

"Hope…" Aiden said, his eyes tearing up. After all he'd been through at the Dimera mansion, now he was being arrested by the woman he loved. She was so cold. Despite Chad's explanation, she still hated him.

"You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you," Hope continued.

"Hope, I love you. I had no choice! I had to protect my son! Otherwise, I never would have—"

Hope continued to ignore him. "Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?"

Aiden hung his head in defeat. "Yes."

Hope then called for a squad car since she had driven over in her own car.

She pushed Aiden down onto the bench—hard. "Not another word out of you, and don't even think about trying anything!" She took out her gun and held it on him.

"I'll get you one of my family's lawyers, Aiden," Chad promised. "I'll get you the best lawyer we have. I don't think Justin would be too keen on representing you right now."

Aiden nodded his thanks, then hung his head. He was crushed. This woman who used to be so in love with him—whom he was still in love with—was now looking at him and treating him like a good for nothing scum of the earth criminal. It hurt like hell, but what hurt even worse was knowing that she had every right to feel that way about him and treat him that way, and that it was all his fault. Now he had to deal with the consequences.


	5. S1E5

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 1: Episode 5_**

Aiden sat in the interrogation room as he waited for the lawyer he hoped Chad would come through with. He wasn't sure if Chad's threat to Stefano had worked or not. Andre was also a wild card. He didn't know if Andre would stop Chad from getting him a lawyer. Aiden was also worried about Chase. He was going to have to get through to Hope that Chase needed protecting. Even if he got nothing else through to her that was the one thing he needed to get through to her.

The door opened, and in walked Hope.

Aiden sighed in relief. "Thank God you're ready to listen!" he said.

Hope's glare was cold as she sat down in front of him. "Was everything Chad said true about you doing what you did to protect Chase?"

Aiden nodded. "I didn't know what to do! Andre said he would kill Chase if I didn't give Andre the money I owed him."

"You may want your lawyer here before you go any further," Hope stated.

Aiden nodded. "I know how it works. You know that. I want to talk to you alone before he gets here—if he even gets here."

Hope shrugged and turned on her tape recorder. "If you say so."

"I knew that you didn't have the money to bail me out even if I went to you," Aiden continued.

"But if you killed me, my life insurance policy would not only pay off your debt, but let you live pretty comfortably," Hope said coldly.

Aiden shook his head, his eyes tearing up. "You don't understand! I had no choice! There was absolutely no other way of getting that money. It was either kill you and protect my son, or let you live and have my son get murdered by the Dimeras."

Hope narrowed her eyes at him. "There's always a choice, Aiden. You should have trusted me. I'm a cop for goodness sake! Did I not keep your secret about—" Hope stopped, not wanting to talk about it on tape.

Aiden sighed. "Hope, my son's life was on the line. If I went to the police, Andre would find a way to make Chase pay for my sins. Heck, Andre even threatened to kill me as well. Now I'd gladly die for you, but I'm sorry, Hope, it's my job to protect my son at all costs." Aiden looked away, a tear falling down his cheek.

"You should have trusted me to help you come up with the money at the very least. Heck, I could have helped you protect Chase!" Hope had tears in her own eyes, and her voice cracked a bit as she asked, "Did you even love me at all?"

Aiden looked her in the eyes. He tried to grab her hands, but she quickly pulled them back.

"Don't touch me!" she snapped.

"I'm sorry. Baby, I—"

Hope cut him off. "I'm not your baby anymore." She narrowed her eyes coldly at him. "And I never will be again."

Aiden felt his heart sink. "Hope, I loved you with all my heart and I _still_ love you with all my heart! Trust me, if I had to do it again, I would be smarter. I would go to you. I would never try to kill you. I just… For the longest time, Chase had been my whole life. I've been trying to protect him since the day he was born. When his life was threatened…. I couldn't think straight. I couldn't see any other way out. Ba— Hope, it was tearing my insides apart thinking about what I had to do to you, and then when I thought I had actually killed you… I couldn't go on! It was then that I realized how horribly wrong I had been."

Hope crossed her arms over her chest. "Yet, you still tried to kill Bo."

"It was a tangled web! I had to get rid of him so that I could protect Chase. If I let him live, he'd have turned me in. If I were in jail, and if I hadn't been able to pay Andre back after all that… Chase would be dead after all," Aiden explained. "Trust me, Hope. Now that I'm thinking clearly, I see how weak and pathetic of a man I really was."

"I did trust you, Aiden, and look where it got me," Hope said, her eyes cold as ice and still narrowed at him.

"Remember how the night before our wedding I came to you in tears and tried to call it off? I said I couldn't do it. I wanted you to leave me and forget all about me. I didn't want to kill you; I didn't think I could. I told you I do love you, and I told everyone at our wedding that I do love you. 'I do love you' as in, I do love you even though I was about to kill you. I only did it to save my son. If I could have killed myself instead to protect him, trust me, Hope, I would have, but it had to be you or my son would still be in danger." Aiden looked her in the eyes. Her eyes were filled with tears, but still filled with anger. He looked down at the desk, no longer able to stand looking into her eyes. They were so full of hurt and anger. It was all because of him, and he hated himself for that.

Hope was quiet as she said, "Yeah, well you didn't give Andre the money, and Chase is still alive. Look at that."

"That's because he had the satisfaction of torturing me to distract him." Aiden looked up at Hope. "Please make sure Chase is safe. Now that I've escaped, I'm worried for his life again."

"I know how to take care of my son, thank you," Hope said angrily, her voice back to being firm and her arms crossed over her chest once again.

"I'm glad you consider him your son," Aiden said.

"Trust me, it has nothing to do with you. I love him because he grew to be like a son to me," Hope said simply.

"Well, either way, I'm glad," Aiden said. He then looked into Hope's eyes again. "I love you so much my heart feels like it will burst, Hope! Please forgive me. I'm not the insane lunatic I was a year ago. I promise! I never want to be that guy again."

"We'll let the judge and jury decide that now, won't we?" Hope asked. "Anyway, I'm with Rafe now. He's a real man who loves me and would never even try to kill me, let alone attack me and ignore my pleas for my life!" Her voice became angrier a she ended the sentence.

"I might as well have been strangling myself because I wished for death to myself as I was attacking you. And when I thought I had killed you, I swear if it hadn't been for Chase I would have killed myself right then and there," Aiden said, staring deep into her eyes.

Hope's eyes softened just a bit, and her bottom lip trembled.

For the briefest of moments, Aiden thought he had finally gotten through to her. But before Hope could say anything more, the door opened, and in walked Frank Walker. Aiden recognized him. Frank was one of those rare lawyers who had a perfect record; he never lost a case. Aiden never knew he worked for the Dimeras. He supposed he should have known. He was the best criminal lawyer in the country.

"Why are you questioning my client without my consent?" Frank asked.

Hope glanced at Aiden, then at Frank. "It was his choice to talk to me without you."

Frank looked at Aiden. "Well, from now on, that stops. There will be no talking to anyone without me being present."

"That's okay." Hope turned off her recorder. "We're done here anyway." She glanced at Aiden coldly. "For now." She opened the door, and looked at the cop waiting outside of the door. "Ramirez, take him down to the holding cell." She looked at Aiden as detective Ramirez re-cuffed Aiden and stood him up. "Your bail hearing is set for tomorrow at noon. I wouldn't count on getting any bail though. As far as I'm concerned, you belong behind bars for the rest of your life!" She then took off without looking back.

Aiden sighed.

"Don't worry. I'm going to do my best to get you off without any jail time. We can go for the temporary insanity plea. The threat of his son's life is enough to make any man go insane," Frank assured him. "Another option would be attempted voluntary manslaughter. The jury may be sympathetic when they find out the reason why you did it. The mitigating factors should get you a much lighter sentence."

Aiden nodded. "Whatever you feel would be best. I just need to stay out of jail. I need to be able to protect my son."

"Don't worry. I don't have a perfect record for nothing. I've got this," Frank said.

"Thank you," Aiden said.

"Come on. Let's go," Detective Ramirez barked before practically shoving Aiden out of the room to take him down to the holding cell.

Aiden sighed. He was going to get out of this, and when he did, he was not only going to protect his son, but he was going to win Hope back. He didn't know how he was going to do it yet, but he would win her back. And when he did, this time, he was never going to let her go.

*This love came back to me.*

"Hey," Rafe said, pulling Hope close when she came back to her office. "I just heard about Aiden. What did that son of a bitch have to say for himself?"

Hope sucked in a breath and slowly let it out; trying to calm herself. "Apparently, he was blackmailed into killing me. He owed Andre a whole lot of money. Aiden had a gambling problem and owed a lot of money to a bookie. Andre and Stefano paid the bookie off, but of course that meant—"

"Aiden now owed them the money instead," Rafe continued for her.

Hope nodded. "They said if he didn't repay them, then they were going to kill his son and then him. He didn't know any other way to get the money except through my life insurance policy. He knew I didn't have that kind of money alive."

"So he decided to kill you instead of trusting you to help him. He could have even gone to me, or any cop on the force. He had plenty of chances. But no. He chose to kill you instead." Rafe started to leave. "I'm going to go down to the holding cell and strangle him myself!"

Hope quickly reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling him back toward her. "No. Rafe, don't. You have to play this by the book. I don't need you getting thrown in jail for assault or murder. You're not Aiden."

Rafe looked at her, his eyes cold. "You're right. I'm nothing like that bastard."

"Let's just let the justice system do their job the legal way, okay?" Hope asked, pulling him into a hug.

Rafe gently rubbed her back. "How are you holding up? This must be dredging up things you wanted to forget."

Hope sighed. "It is, but in a way I'm glad. At least now I know he had a reason to try to kill me, as deluded as it was. He didn't just try to kill me for no reason other than to pay back a gambling debt or because he was psycho. He tried to kill me because he felt it was the only way to save his son's life."

Rafe held her at arms' length. "You're not honestly thinking of forgiving him, are you?"

Hope made a disgusted face. "What? No!" She smacked his chest and shook her head. "No way! He tried to kill me on my wedding night instead of trusting me to help him. There's no forgiving that."

Rafe nodded. "Well, good! As far as I'm concerned, no matter what his reasoning was, he is still a psycho. But I'm glad you were finally able to get the answers and closure you needed.

Hope straightened his shirt collar. "Me too." She then sighed. "I have to go find Chase and tell him that his father is alive before he finds out some other way."

Rafe raised an eyebrow. "Do you want me to come with you?"

Hope shook her head, then pat his chest. "Thanks, but I think this is something that is better off I do alone."

Rafe nodded. "All right. I understand. Take all the time you need."

Hope kissed him softly on the lips. "Thank you. I'll see you tonight?"

Rafe smiled and nodded. "You can count on it!"

Hope smiled as well, and they kissed one more time softly on the lips. Then, she took off to go find Chase.

Rafe watched her leave, and sighed. He then headed out of the office. There was something he had to do that was also, better off done alone.

*This love came back to me.*

"You have a visitor," the guard grumbled.

A moment later, Chad came up to Aiden's cell. "I got you the best lawyer I could find. Don't worry. You're in really good hands with him. I'm fitting the bill, so don't worry about that either."

"Thank you. I know how good he is. He's never lost a case!" Aiden said.

Chad nodded.

"I don't much like being in even more debt, but at least if it had to be to another Dimera, it's you. I know you won't make me kill anybody for it," Aiden said. He was trying to make a joke, but after his conversation with Hope, his heart just wasn't in it.

Chad shook his head. "Unlike you, I can afford it. Don't even worry about paying me back. Whether or not you think I owe you one, I do feel like I owe you one, so this makes me feel even."

Aiden sighed. "Thank you. I truly appreciate it."

Chad shrugged. "Any time. It's the least I can do." He nodded toward Aiden. "Judging from the glum look ok your face, things didn't go too well with Hope?"

Aiden clung to the bars and looked down to the floor. "She hates me."

Chad shrugged again. "She'll get over it. Before all this happened, I saw how in love with you she was. Do you know how many horrible things my brother and Sami did to each other? And that was just to spite each other; not because it was to protect their son! Sami even shot EJ in the head, yet he forgave her. They loved each other so much that no matter what horrible things they did to each other, they always came back to each other. I know Hope will come back to you eventually too."

Aiden looked him in the eyes. "She's dating your 'bestie' as you call him. I'm surprised you're even on my side."

Chad grabbed the bars underneath Aiden's hands. "I'm on the side of love. I know how much you love Hope, and like I said, I saw how in love with you she was. If she loved Rafe so much, or at least more than you, she never would have fallen for you. She would have fallen for him right from the beginning."

Aiden nodded. "Tue I guess." He looked up at Chad. "But I doubt she still feels that way."

Chad looked into Aiden's eyes. "She will. Right now, she is just hurting and in shock. Just give her some time. As for Rafe, he is resilient. A broken heart never lasts long with him. He'll move on with Lani, or Nicole, or someone new. He will mend. He deserves someone who isn't someone else's woman! I know where Hope's heart belongs and it is with you. You weren't close enough to see, but I saw a glimmer of happiness in Hope's eye when I told her you were alive. It was only for a split second before it changed and she looked like she wanted to kill me, but it was there."

Aiden smiled weakly. "Thanks. You've been a really good friend to me even though we haven't known each other all that long."

"It takes one to know one," Chad said with a smile and a wink.

"What are you doing here?" Rafe asked, coming down to the cell. He nodded at Chad as he asked.

Chad looked at him. "I'm the one who found him. I got him a lawyer."

"Why the hell are you helping him?" Rafe asked, nodding at Aiden now, but keeping his eyes locked with Chad's.

"Because he helped me, and because he was treated wrongly by my family. I want to help make it right," Chad answered.

Rafe crossed his arms over his chest. "He tried to kill Hope. Your family may have pressured him into doing so, but they didn't hold a gun to his head."

Chad crossed his arms over his chest as well. "Yeah, well they practically held a mental gun to his son's head. Sure he should have gone to the police, but I know firsthand the police don't always listen, and they can't always protect people. No offense."

"I guess we're just going to have to agree to disagree then," Rafe said.

Chad nodded. "I guess so." He turned his attention to Aiden. "I'll see you tomorrow at your bail hearing."

"Wait upstairs for me. I need to question you about finding him," Rafe said to Chad as started to walk away.

Chad didn't look back as he left, but he put his hand in the air and slapped the air. "I know, I know."

Rafe watched Chad leave, then turned his attention to Aiden. "I think it's time you and I got a little something straight," he said, his tone hard.

Aiden nodded, his eyes as cold as Rafe's as their eyes locked. "I'm glad you think so, because I think so too," he said coldly.

*This love came back to me.*

Hope entered the house, and was relieved to see that Chase was alone. He was watching TV on the couch. She shut the door behind her. "Oh, good! You're home." She walked over to Chase and sat down beside him on the couch. "Are you alone?"

He looked and her and nodded. "Yeah. Ciara and Theo at a movie, and Claire is home studying with a girlfriend of hers."

Hope took the remote and clicked the television off.

Chase turned to her. "Is something wrong?"

Hope sighed. "Depending on how you look at it. I'm sure it might make you happy," she said.

"What?" Chase asked.

Hope took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Well, this is going to come as quite a shock to you. I'm just hoping you can take this news. It's hard for me to even say."

Chase placed his hand over top of hers. "Mom, just tell me. I can handle it. Besides, you said it's good news, right?"

Hope nodded, trying to smile to be strong for him. "Let's hope you see it that way."

"Mom! Just tell me already, please!" Chase said.

Hope sighed then took Chase's hands in her own and looked him in the eyes as she said it. "Chase, I found out today that your father didn't die."

Chase's face contorted into confusion. "Huh?"

Hope sighed again. "Chase, Honey, your father was found alive today," she said before pulling Chase into a hug. She felt like he was going to need one.

Chase's expression turned into shock as he weakly hugged Hope back, not saying a word.


	6. S1E6

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **Season 1 Episode 6:**_

Chase pulled away from Hope. "What do you mean my dad is alive?"

"I found out today he didn't die. Stefano and his son Andre had kidnapped him and held him captive for a year. Their doctors were able to save your Dad's life," Hope explained.

"But I thought he died here; that he couldn't be saved," Chase said, still confused.

Hope shrugged. "Everyone thought he was dead, but apparently, it just appeared that way. The Dimeras are very powerful people. They have people everywhere working for them. The EMTs were working for them."

Chase stood up. "So, where is he? Where is my dad? I wanna see him."

Hope looked away, suddenly feeling guilty even though she had only been doing her job. "He's in jail."

"What?" Chase asked; surprised. "How did he get there?"

Hope looked at him and sighed. "Chad found him in one of Stefano's secret rooms. He freed him and brought your dad to me so that he and I could talk."

"So, you arrested him," Chase said, not needing Hope to say it.

Hope nodded. "It did. He had tried to kill me, Honey. I had no choice but to arrest him."

"Did you at least try to hear him out first?" Chase asked.

"As a cop, it is my duty to arrest a criminal. I had to arrest him," Hope said, really wishing Chase would understand.

"Why didn't you listen to him? Screw your duty! Don't you wanna know why he did what he did?" Chase asked, his hands balled up into fists at his side, and his voice raised.

"Chad explained to me why he did what he did, and I let your father tell me himself once we had him in custody," Hope said calmly.

"Why did he do it?" Chase asked.

Hope sighed. She knew that when she told Chase he was going to blame himself and be angry with her for arresting his dad even after she knew the truth.

"Hope, why did he do it? I'm in son. I have the right to know," Chase said coldly. He squeezed his hands into tighter fists.

Hope pat the seat beside her. "Come sit down next to me, and I'll tell you everything."

Chase hesitated for a split second, then reluctantly sat down beside her. He faced her. "I'm sitting. Now tell me."

*This love came back to me.*

"I want you to leave Hope the hell alone. You've already caused enough damage to her and I'm not going to let you cause even more," Rafe said to Aiden from the other side of the bars.

"I never would have tried to kill Hope if I didn't feel like it was the only way to save my son," Aiden said cooly.

"Yeah, well either way, you never should have tried to kill her. You had so many opportunities to tell Hope, or even me for that matter, but you didn't. You didn't trust the woman who was supposed to be the love of your life, and who happened to be a policewoman trained in situations like this to protect your son." Rafe shook his head. "You don't deserve someone as beautiful and perfect as Hope."

Aiden nodded. "That may be true, but neither do you. You go about your life acting all high and mighty. You act like you're better than everyone else when in fact, you're just the opposite. Hope had just gone through what she had gone through with me, and then she lost her other husband all within a matter of days. Yet, it didn't take you long to swoop right in and try to push her into a relationship before I or Bo was even cold."

"How would you even know anything about it when you were held captive by the Dimeras?" Rafe asked crossly. He crossed his arms over his chest.

Aiden's eyes bore angrily into Rafe's. "Stefano and Andre loved to torture me with stories of where you and Hoe were in your relationship. They told me how you were all over her like a shadow from the moment Bo was out of the picture."

"I was just looking out for her. Bo asked me to look out for her and take care of her," Rafe said, his tone angry.

"Don't you think Hope is capable of protecting herself?" Aiden snapped.

Rafe raised an eyebrows, and grabbed the bars. "Apparently not after what you tried to do to her."

Aiden nodded. "Fair enough. Even so, I'm sure she would want to pick out her own man. Heck, she wasn't in the right mindset to even think about dating someone new. She had just been strangled by the man she loved and married, then she found out that her first husband hadn't abandoned her and was alive and well, but wait, he has a brain tumor and dies after all. You didn't stop to think how that might affect her. All you could think about was getting into her pants. What? Did you think it was okay because you had Bo's permission? Well, let me tell you, Hope Brady doesn't need anyone telling her who to move on with or when to move on with them!"

"It wasn't like that at all!" Rafe snapped.

A guard started to come over since both their voices were at yelling level now.

Rafe held his hand up to the guard. "We're fine. We're just having a little bit of a heated conversation is all." He turned back to Aiden and spoke a little more quietly, getting his face a little closer to Aiden's. "Look. I don't know what Andre or Stefano told you, but it wasn't like that like at all. I was there for her as friend and it grew into more. No one forced her into anything."

"Well, the last time I checked, friends don't act like stalkers. You pressured her into a relationship before she was ready, and you know it!" Aiden snapped.

Rafe rolled his eyes, his arms still crossed over his chest. "Yeah, well, think what you want. I don't even know why I'm trying to explain myself to you. I don't owe you a damn thing."

"Don't you have a witness to question? Chad doesn't like to be kept waiting," Aiden said coldly.

"I don't want you talking to Hope and filling her head with lies anymore. You hear me? You stay away from her," Rafe warned.

Aiden shook his head. "See? There you go again, trying to make choices for Hope that she is fully capable of making herself. I'm not going anywhere obviously, but if she comes to me, there's no way in hell I'm not talking to her."

Rafe eyed him up. "Yeah, well, we'll see about that." He then took off to question Chad.

Aiden sighed, and sat down on his cot. "There's no way I'm letting that undeserving bastard have Hope," he muttered to himself. "And I'm sure as hell not going to stay away from Hope either."

*This love came back to me.*

Hope finished explaining everything to Chase.

Chase was quiet; unspeaking and looking down at his lap.

Hope placed a hand over his shoulder. "Chase, Honey, are you okay? I want you to know, none if this is your fault. Stefano and Andre blackmailed him. Your father didn't react the way he should have, but he did it out of love for you. Never feel bad about your father's love for you. Parents love and protect their children. It's just what we do."

Chase looked up at her with tears in his eyes. "I don't blame him; I blame you!"

Hope was surprised to say the least. She placed a hand over her heart. "You blame me? Why? I was the victim here, remember?"

Chase narrowed his eyes at her. "You arrested him even though you knew he only did it because he was blackmailed into it!"

"Honey, no matter his reasoning, he still tried to kill me. He has to answer for his crimes now," Hope said softly.

"So loving your son and trying to protect him is suddenly a crime now?" Chase snapped, jumping off the couch and staring at Hope angrily.

Hope nodded. "When you try to kill someone over it, then yes, it is!"

Chase shook his head. "No! He was just trying to protect me. You just said yourself that all parents protect their kids. Anyway, you should have seen the signs. You should have seen that he was upset about something! You were his fiance for goodness sake! You spend more time with him than I did!"

Hope looked at him sadly. "He should have gone to me, Rafe, Roman, or anyone on the force instead of trying to kill me! He was supposed to love me, not try to murder me!"

Chase crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, sorry that his son came first. He created me and knew me far before he even met you, Hope. You know what? You're a hypocrite! One moment you talk about how protecting their children is what parents do, and about him doing it out of love for me, then next you act like he is some horrible monster! You don't make sense!"

Hope shook her head. "I don't know what else to say to you," she said quietly, looking and sounding like she could cry at any moment.

Chase headed for the door.

Hope stood up. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to see my father. You know the man you locked up for trying to protect his son?" Chase asked.

"I'm going with you!" Hope said, grabbing her purse and rushing after him.

"Whatever," Chase said, leaving the door open for her, but not stopping to wait for her.

Hope sighed. She locked and shut the door behind her, then ran off to catch up with Chase.

*This love came back to me.*

"I'd like to see him alone, thank you," Chase said to Hope, his tone filled with annoyance.

Hope's face fell a bit, but she nodded. "All right." She turned to Detected Rodriguez. "Please bring him down to Aiden Jennings in the holding cell."

Detective Rodriguez turned to Chase. "Follow me."

"I'll be here for you when you get back," Hope said to Chase.

Chase looked over his shoulder at her. "Don't bother."

Chase knew he wasn't being very kind to her, but right now, he really didn't care. He headed down to the holding cell. A part of him was so eager to see his father again after he hadn't seen him for a year. Another part of him was a little nervous. It wasn't for the reason one would think. He didn't care that Aiden had tried to kill Hope. He wasn't afraid of his dad. He knew Aiden would have never done what he did if he hadn't been forced into it. Besides, after his dad had made such a sacrifice for him, Chase knew that his father's love for him meant that Aiden would never hurt him. He was nervous because he was afraid that Aiden would resent him now. After all, for the last year, Aiden had supposedly been through hell. Chase knew Aiden would never admit to it, but would Aiden now blame Chase for all of this and hold just a little bit of resentment inside toward him?

He was about to find out.

"You have ten minutes then visitor hours are over," Detective Rodrigues told him.

"Thank you," Chase said. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out, then headed over to the holding cell.

Aiden's eyes got wide when he saw his son, and he quickly got off his cot and ran over to the bars. "Chase!" he said happily.

Chase smiled weakly, and walked over to the bars. "Hello, Dad. Long time no see."

*This love came back to me.*

"Hey," what are you doing here? I thought your shift ended," Rafe asked, kissing Hope's cheek.

"Hey," Hope kissed his cheek. "I came down with Chase. I didn't want him to be alone."

Rafe nodded. "I guess he must be happy, seeing his dad. How did he take the news about why Aiden did it?"

Hope sighed, and sat down at her desk. "Well, he's angry with me. He blames me for not seeing the signs earlier. He is also not too thrilled with me for arresting his father."

Rafe shrugged. "He didn't see the signs either. None of us did. Anyway, you were just doing your job. Regardless of his reasonings, Aiden still commuted a crime, and needs to pay the price."

Hope nodded. "I told him that, but sadly, he will only ever see Aiden as his dad. Chase can't seem to look at it from a cop's point of view."

"Well, I'll try having a talk with him," Rafe said.

Hope shook her head. "No. Please don't. You'll only make it worse. He's not exactly your biggest fan right now anyway."

Rafe sighed. "True enough."

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Lani popped her head in. "Rafe, I need to you come take a look at something regarding the Davis case."

Rafe nodded. "I'll be right there."

He turned to Hope. "I'll see you after work."

Hope got up from her desk. "Actually, how about we just get together tomorrow instead? I have a feeling Chase is going to need me tonight."

Rafe nodded. "I understand. I'll see you tomorrow."

Hope kissed him. "Thank you for understanding."

He smiled at her. "Of course!" He then took off to see what it was Lani wanted him to see.

Hope then sat back down at her desk. She sighed as she picked up a framed picture on her desk of Ciara and Chase hugging each other and smiling at the camera. She couldn't help but wonder how things were going with Chase and Aiden's reunion.

*This love came back to me.*

"How much do you know?" Aiden asked.

"Everything," Chase confessed. "Dad, why didn't you just go to Hope? I mean, I know how much you love me, and that you were just trying to protect me, but trying to kill your new wife—my new stepmom— Why?"

Aiden sighed. "I know it was stupid. I know that now. But, Chase, when your life was threatened, all I could think of was finding a way to save my son's life. Hope didn't have the money. I certainly didn't have it. The Dimeras always avoid prison. They have their resources, and I had no doubt in my mind that they would find some way to get to you. Or, at least, that is what I felt like back then. Now, I don't know."

Chase's eyes grew wide. "Do you think I'm in danger now?"

Aiden shook his head. "I know Hope and even Rafe will protect you. Plus, Chad won't allow his father or brother to bring any harm to you."

"Chad's the one that found you and rescued you, right?" Chase asked.

Aiden nodded. "He is also the one paying for my lawyer. My lawyer is an even better lawyer than I am. He's never lost a case!"

"So you will be able to get out," Chase stated it more than questioned it.

Aiden sighed. "That's the plan. My lawyer has never lost a case, but I supposed there's a first time for everything."

"Hope never should have arrested you. I told her what a hypocrite she was," Chase stated.

Aiden looked his son in the eyes. "Chase, that wasn't very nice to talk to your mother that way."

Chase looked his father in the eyes in return. "She's not my mom! Well, not my real mom."

Aiden shook his head. "Blood doesn't make a parent. You know Hope loves you as if you were her own, and I know you love her."

Chase nodded. "I do. I'm just so mad at her right now!"

Aiden went to sit back down on the cot. "She was only doing her job. You have to remember that, no matter what the reasoning, I tried to kill her on our wedding night. That's not something you can just get over."

"Still, she could at least be somewhat understanding," Chase muttered.

"Chase, do me a favor. I want you to apologize to Hope, then be nice to her. Don't make this any harder on her than it has to be. All right?" Aiden asked.

Chase sighed. "All right, fine." He was looking at the ground.

"Hey, look at me," Aiden ordered.

Chase looked him in the eyes. "I love you. I'm going to do everything in my power to get out of here and back to you,"Aiden assured him.

Chase had tears in his eyes. "I missed you, Dad. When you died—or supposedly died—I was so lonely. I didn't understand why you did what you did. I thought you had abandoned me."

Aiden had tears in his eyes. He got up off the cot and walked back over to the bars. "Chase, I love you. I would never leave you if I could help it."

Chase sniffled. "I know that now."

Aiden put his arms out of the bars. "Come here. This will have to do for now."

Chase smiled, and walked over to the bars. He put his arms out and hugged his father the best he could with bars between them.

"So, where do we go from here?" Chase asked.

"Well, the preliminary hearing is tomorrow at noon. "I'm sure I won't get bail, and I will more than likely get sent to trial. My lawyer assures me he's got this, so let's hope he does. With a Dimera on my side, I should be okay." Aiden sighed. "As a lawyer myself though, I know nothing is cut and dry. We'll just have to take it one day at a time."

"Times up," the guard said, coming over to Chase.

Chase sighed. "I have school tomorrow, but I can skip it for your hearing if you want."

Aiden shook his head. "No, don't do that. It's barely even necessary to have it. I know I'm going to trial. You just remember what I told you about being nice to Hope, and I promise I'll do whatever it takes to get back to you."

"And Hope?" Chase asked.

Aiden nodded. "And Hope."

"Good because I'm not fond of Rafe anymore," Chase said as the guard led him away.

"Neither am I son," Aiden said quietly. "Neither am I."

*This love came back to me.*

"How did it go?" Hope asked when Chase entered her office.

"Dad wants me to apologize to you," Chase said.

"You don't have to," Hope assured him.

Chase shook his head. "No, I want to. I'm sorry I called you a hypocrite, and that I blamed you."

Hope got up from her desk and walked over to him. She hugged him tightly. "Oh, Honey, I know. You really don't have to apologize."

"I'm also sorry I got angry with you for arresting him. I know you were just doing your job. But can you promise me one thing?" Chase asked.

Hope held him at arms' length and looked him in the eyes. "What is it, Honey?"

Chase sighed. "Please don't go to my dad's bail hearing or trial to testify against him. Please tell the judge and or jury that you understand why he did what he did, and that he truly seems remorseful to you."

Hope sighed as well. "He does seem remorseful to me, but I can't say for sure he would never try something like that again."

Chase pulled away from Hope. "But he wouldn't, Hope! He only did it to protect me! He loves you! I know he does!"

"Honey, your father gets himself into certain situations that are dangerous, and he doesn't know how to handle them," Hope said calmly.

Chase crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, now he's learned from his mistakes Hope. He knows what he did was wrong and he deeply regrets it. He told you such I'm sure."

Hope reluctantly nodded.

"Please, Hope, I'm begging you. I promise he will never try to kill you or anyone else ever again. I need my dad, Hope. Please don't deny him and I a second chance to be together," Chase pleaded.

Hope was quiet for a moment. "I'm going to need some time to think things over," she said.

"Fine." Chase turned around to leave. "Don't expect me back for dinner. I'm going out with Claire." He then left without looking back, and without another word to Hope.

Hope sighed, then sank back down into her desk chair, her face buried in her hands.

*This love came back to me."

Aiden lie on his cot, his eyes opened as he thought about Hope being with Rafe. He was going to get that smug son of a bitch away from Hope, and then the would all be a family again—him, Hope, Chase, and Ciara, And this time, he wasn't going to ruin it. Now all he had to do was get out of jail. He sighed. He sure hoped his lawyer, or at the very least Chad, had something up their sleeves, for right now, he had no plan B.


	7. S1E7

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 1 Episode 7:_**

Rafe and Lani rang the doorbell at the Kiriakis mansion. Now that they had gotten Chad's full statement about what he had found in one of the secret rooms, they had to investigate. Hope was sitting this case out and Lani was Rafe's partner on this case instead. Both Roman and he agreed that this case was too personal for Hope since it had involved her.

Harold answered the door and Rafe and Lani both flashed their badges.

"Salem PD." Rafe pulled out a warrant and handed it to Harold. "We have a warrant to search the premises."

Harold nodded and stepped back.

"Thank you for your cooperation" Lani said to Harold as Harold closed the door behind them.

"What is the meaning of all this?" Stefano asked when he saw Rafe and Lani enter the living room.

"They have a warrant Mr. Dimera." Harold handed Stefano the warrant.

Andre came into the room then and looked over Stefano's shoulder. "Well, what can we do? They have a warrant. We must let them search."

Stefano nodded. "Do as you wish."

Rafe eyed them both suspiciously. "Thank you." He knew they had something up their sleeves and he was more than sure they had already wiped the place clean, but he still had to look in case they missed something.

"Chad said the room was behind the fireplace. That seems weird," Lani said.

Rafe headed over to the fireplace and took out the gate. He set it aside then leaned in and pressed the bricks where Chad had instructed him to press. Sure enough, the back wall turned into a doorway as the wall pushed backward revealing a set of stairs.

Rafe looked over his shoulder at Lani. "Everything involving the Dimeras is weird."

Lani looked shocked. She nodded. "Fair enough." She regained her composure and followed him into the fireplace. They then headed down the stairs.

The door was closed. Rafe tried the knob and it opened right up. He looked at Lani. "They've been expecting us." He then opened the door and walked in.

Lani headed in behind him, and they both surveyed the room.

"You gotta be kidding me," Lani stated.

Rafe crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head.

*This love came back to me.*

Hope lie in bed tossing and turning. She kept thinking about hers and Aiden's wedding night. They were so happy and in love. Or so she had thought. She remembered making love with him only to have him strangle her almost to death shortly after. She thought of him apologizing to her, tears in his eyes over what he had done. She thought of Chase's plea to not testify against him. She knew she had to testify, but could she find it in her to plead with the judge and possible jury to go easy on him? Could she tell them that he only did it because he was forced into it? Did she herself even buy that reasoning? Could she ever forgive Aiden for turning on her and trying to kill her—on their wedding night nonetheless? Did she really think he wouldn't try to hurt someone else? Did he kill his ex-wife after all? Was this just something he did—get women to fall in love with him and marry him and then kille them for their life insurance policies?

She sighed, and rolled over to her other side. She pictured the nights she spent with Bo in this bed, and the nights she spent with Aiden. Bo had been her one true love for as long as she could remember. Then Aiden had come along and she had fallen in love when she had thought she'd never fall in love again. She had fallen hard for Aiden, and she had thought he had fallen just as hard for her. He claimed it had been real love, but now she wasn't so sure. Then there was Rafe. He was there for her as a friend when she was going through all the crap she had to go through with what Aiden had done to her and then Bo dying. Then it quickly grew into something more. She loved Rafe. She did. Did she love him like Bo? Not even close! However, Rafe meant so much to her as both a lover and a friend. She loved him. As for Aiden, she honestly wasn't sure how she felt about him. She had loved him so much she had been willing to spend the rest of her life with him, but look how that had turned out. No matter what his reasoning was, the fact remained that he had still tried to kill her—on her wedding night at that!

She sighed again, and turned to her other side. She honestly didn't know what she was going to do the next day at the hearing, and frankly, right now she was just too tired to think any more on the matter. She closed her eyes and let sleep overtake her.

*This love came back to me.*

Rafe and Lani looked around every inch of the room but it was no use. It had been wiped clean. There was no IV stand or IV. There was no gurney table, ball, chain, or any other sign that someone had been chained there. Even the walls had no signs of having had chains attached to them. All that was in the room were shelves filled with boxes of old family pictures and a lot of cleaning supplies and toiletries. There was also a working toilet and sink.

"Seems odd to me that they would have a working toilet in here if all this room is used for is storage," Lani quipped.

Rafe nodded. "I wanna get this place dusted for prints, but I have a feeling there won't be any since they went through all the trouble to make it look like no one was here."

"Chad wouldn't have made up a lie to help Aiden would he have?" Lani asked.

Rafe shook his head. "No. Chad wouldn't do that. He's not like the rest of his family. Anyway, how else would Aiden have been fixed up, and where would he have been for the past year? He definitely had a serious gunshot wound. That couldn't be faked. The Dimera doctor saving his life and then Stefano and Andre keeping him captive here is the only thing that makes any sense. I know the Dimeras. They're just really good at covering their tracks."

Lani nodded in understanding. She opened her fingerprint dusting kit. "Well, even though they more than likely had this place wiped clean, it's still better to be safe than sorry right?"

Rafe nodded. "Right!"

They got to work.

*This love came back to me*

"What's the matter Detectives? Didn't you find anything?" Andre asked, feigning surprise an hour later.

Rafe scowled. "You already knew that."

"Poor Mr. Jennings isn't right in the head imagining things that didn't happen," Andre said, shaking his head in mock pity and making a clicking noise with his tongue.

"You son corroborated his story," Lani replied.

Andre shrugged. "My brother has never been that fond of me. It doesn't surprise me that he is making up stories."

"Why was there a toilet down there if all you seem to use the room for is storage?" Lani asked.

"We let the servants use that bathroom. My father and I don't like to make a habit of sharing our private bathrooms with the help," Andre said simply.

"Are you going to be charging us with anything?" Stefano asked.

Rafe glanced from Stefano to Andre, to back to Stefano. "No. I have no evidence to charge to you with anything." He knew he could call Andre and Stefano in for questioning, but it was late and he didn't feel like dealing with the paperwork. Besides, what good would it do? It was Chad and Aiden's word against Stefano and Andre's. Andre and Stefano had people on the inside that would have them back in their cozy beds within the hour.

"You win," he said looking at both Dimeras with distaste. "For now."

Rafe then left with Lani leading the way.

"Well, that was a big waste of time," Lani said.

Rafe nodded at the fingerprints they had managed to find and collect. "I can guarantee those fingerprints you collected are only going to belong to the servants—possibly Andre or Stefano as well— but let's get them to forensics then we can call it a night."

Lani nodded. "Sounds good, Partner. I don't know about you but I am more than ready for this night to end." She yawned.

Rafe nodded. "You and I both."

*This love came back to me.*

It was 11:45 the next day and Aiden and his lawyer were sitting in the court room waiting for the preliminary hearing to start.

They had had a long discussion prior to the hearing and finally decided on pleading guilty to attempted voluntary manslaughter. There was no use in pleading not guilty when Hope was just going to prove him wrong anyway. Not to mention there were doctor's reports of Hope's strangulation that would no doubt be given to the judge as evidence. Anyway, Aiden knew that lying about it was not the way to win Hope back. As for the insanity plea, Aiden had known what he was doing even if the circumstances didn't allow him to thoroughly think through the consequences. Both Aiden and his lawyer Frank, felt that maybe he would get some leniency not only because of the unusual circumstances he was under, but also for admitting to his wrong doings.

Aiden looked around the courtroom. Chase wasn't there. He had gone to school as Aiden had instructed him to. Roman was there, and of course being the DA, Justin was there. Lani was there, as was Chad. Hope and Rafe were yet to be seen.

Aiden glanced at the clock on the wall. It was now ten minutes until the hearing started. He didn't know whether he was surprised that Andre and Stefano weren't there or not. He definitely wasn't surprised that they hadn't been arrested.

"Hey" Chad said coming up behind him. "Do you know anything about this judge? I was hoping we'd get a judge my father knows. Then maybe I could have persuaded him to see things your way, but sadly, this one doesn't work for us. Then again, knowing my brother and father, that may be a good thing."

Aiden nodded. "He's fair."

"He has a son around Chase's age. This could be a very lucky break!" Frank said.

"You're thinking he might sympathize with Aiden when he hears his story," Chad stated.

Frank nodded. "Exactly!"

Chad clapped a hand over top of Aiden's shoulder. "Here's hoping. Good luck, Buddy!"

Aiden looked over his shoulder at him and nodded. "Thanks."

Chad then took his seat.

The courtroom doors opened then. Aiden looked behind him to see Rafe walking into the room with Hope by his side.

Rafe made eye contact with him, his eyes cold, and his lip curled in a slight snarl.

Aiden sighed. He wished he could punch him in the face.

Hope met his gaze then. Her expression was unreadable. She looked away as soon as they made eye contact.

Rafe and Hope took a seat.

Aiden sighed again.

The bailiff came into the room. "All rise for the Honorable Judge Evan Winters is now presiding."

Everyone rose while the judge came in and took his seat. The judge had small round wire-framed glasses and a full head of gray hair making him look a lot older than the fifty years that he was.

"The court is now in session. You may be seated," the bailiff finished.

Everyone took their seat.

Judge Winters surveyed the courtroom. "I'm a very busy man, and I haven't got all day, so I am going to move this right along. I have reviewed the case." He turned his attention to Frank. "Mr. Walker, how does your client plead?"

Frank stood up. "Guilty of Attempted Voluntary Manslaughter your Honor."

"I'd like to hear the reasoning behind such a plea," Judge Winters stated.

Frank nodded. "My client would like to take the stand to explain himself."

"Very well then," Judge Winters agreed.

The bailiff called Aiden to the stand and swore him in.

Aiden placed his right hand on the Bible and swore to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth then he took his seat.

"Tell me now, Mr. Jennings, why did you try to kill your wife; the supposed love of your life?" Judge Winters asked.

Aiden sighed. "I owed a lot of money to a bookie. The Dimeras paid him off without my permission, and then expected me to pay them back. I had no way of paying them back, so they threatened to kill my son if I didn't pay. The only way to get the money and protect my son was to kill Hope for the life insurance money. Several times I wanted to back out. I couldn't go through with it! However, every time I told them no they threatened my son's life. At one point, Mr. Andre Dimera threatened to kill _both_ my son and me if I didn't kill Hope and get them their money."

"Your Honor, may I ask the defendant a few questions?" Justin asked.

Judge Winters nodded. "As long as you keep it short. Remember this isn't a trial."

Justin nodded. "Of course." He walked over to Aiden. "Mr. Jennings, why didn't you just go to Detective Brady about this? Or you could have gone to your best man, Detective Hernandez. Heck, you could have come to Commissioner Brady, or even myself! You loved your fiancé so much you wanted to marry her, yet you couldn't trust her with a problem like this?"

Aiden glanced at Hope, who looked sad. She wouldn't meet his eyes.

Aiden sighed. "I couldn't think straight. Trust me, I did not want to kill Hope. I begged and pleaded for Andre and Stefano to let me pay them off any other way!"

"Please just answer my question," Mr. Jennings," Justin said coolly.

Aiden managed to look Justin in the eyes. "I was a fool. I was worried that if I went to the police, Andre or Stefano—or both—would find a way for my son to be killed. I just couldn't think straight! I know now how foolish it was of me, but honestly, all I could think about at the time was the surefire way to save my son that would leave no what ifs. I could make sur everyone thought it was the necktie killer, no one would ever know it was me, and I'd get the money to protect my son."

"Didn't you take into consideration how you would be leaving poor Ciara without a mother? She had thought her father abandoned her, now you were going to kill her mother too? And Shawn's? What about Hope's parents and relatives? They have all already been through so much in life, but you didn't even care about that or stop to think about that, did you?" Justin asked.

Aiden felt his heart sink. He looked down at the floor for just a moment.

"Objection, Your Honor, the DA is badgering the witness!" Frank objected.

"Your Honor, I'm just seeing if he can truly grasp the consequences of what he tried to do," Justin explained.

"Overruled. Answer the question Mr. Jennings," Judge Winters ordered.

Aiden looked at Justin. "I knew Ciara would have plenty of family to take care of her. Shawn is all grown up now. I knew it was still so wrong, but I had to think about the more important consequence, which was my son's life. With Hope dying, her kids would be fine. With Hope not dying, my son would be dead."

"So, the life of the woman than you loved didn't matter just so long as your son lived?" Aiden asked.

Again, Aiden looked down to the floor. "I would handle things better this time. Now that I've had a year to think of it, held prisoner in a—whatever kind of room that was—her life did and does matter." He looked at Justin again. "My son's mother died when my son was very young. All his life I've had to protect him. He depended on me his dad to take care of him and protect him from harm. It is my job as a parent to protect him. That was all I could think of doing when I tried to kill Hope. Now, however, I could never hurt Hope, let alone try to kill her. I know now that what I did was terribly wrong, and that I should have just gone to the police and let them do their jobs."

"All right. That's easy for you to say now, but how do we know that you wouldn't do it again if you were put in the same position?" Justin asked.

Aiden shook his head. "Honestly, you don't. But _I_ know I wouldn't. The moment I thought I had killed her, I would have killed myself had I not needed to stay alive to protect my son. I knew then that I what I had just done was so incredibly wrong, and that I could never do that or anything like it again. Ever. I couldn't hurt or try to kill anyone, let alone the love of my life. It's not the way to protect my son."

"How do we know you didn't kill your first wife; that this isn't something you do on a regular basis—find a woman to woo and get to marry you, then kill her, come up with a story, and take her life insurance policy?" Justin asked.

Aiden narrowed his eye at him. "I did not kill my wife."

Frank stood up and slammed his hands on the desk. "Objection, Your Honor! My client is not on trial for the murder of his first wife. That was ruled an accident besides."

Judge Winters nodded. "Sustained. DA Kiriakis, please stay on topic."

Justin held up his hands. "You're right. My apologies Your Honor. I'm through with my questioning."

"Mr. Walker, do you have any further questioning?" Judge Winters asked.

Frank shook his head. "No your Honor, but I would like to call to the stand Mr. Chad Dimera."

"All right, you pay proceed," Judge Winters agreed.

Chad walked to the bench and got sworn in, then he sat down.

Frank walked up to him. "Please, Mr. Dimera, share with the courtroom what it was you saw when you first found Mr. Jennings alive."

Chad then told the story of how he had discovered Aiden, and how he had Aiden had worked to escape from Andre and Stefano. He also made sure the court knew that he had heard his brother and father confess to what they had done to Aiden. He also told them about Andre having told him there would be another killing the night Aiden tried to kill Hope.

"My brother made Aiden do it so that everyone would think that he was the necktie killer and therefore I would be released from jail," Chad explained.

"Did you tell anyone?" Frank asked.

Chad nodded. "I told the guard but he wouldn't listen. He just thought I was trying to get out of jail. I didn't know that Aiden was who my brother was going to make pose as the necktie killer, nor did I know that he was going to try to kill Hope."

"Thank you. That is all the questioning I have for you," Frank said.

The judge asked Justin if he wanted to cross-examine but, Justin declined.

Aiden knew it was more than likely because Justin knew that Chad had been telling the truth on that part. Surely Justin must have heard Chad's warning that night, but like the guard, Justin hadn't believed him and therefor did nothing. It was just a guess, but Aiden was pretty sure of it.

Over the next half hour, Rafe and Lani both testified on the stand about having found nothing when examining the Dimera mansion. The fingerprints they had collected belonged to the maids and Harold—no one else. Rafe admitted that there had been a report that Chad had said there was going to be another murder but no one believed him. But he had only confessed that when Frank asked him straight out about it.

Aiden smirked. Rafe couldn't lie on the stand. He had been forced to tell the truth even though it meant helping him.

Rafe also described the scene when he arrived at Hope's house after Aiden had tried to kill her and Aiden had ultimately had the final battle with Bo. Rafe told the court that Aiden did appear to be dead, and that his story about being kidnapped by the Dimeras and treated by their surgeon was the only possible explanation of how Aiden was still here today. Of course, that was just circumstantial; nothing that could put away Andre or Stefano.

"Do we have any more witnesses before I decide whether or not this goes to trial?" Judge Winters asked.

"Yes. The DA would like to call to the stand Detective Hope Brady," Justin said.

Aiden felt his heart pound. He knew this was coming, now here it was.

Hope walked to the stand and got sworn in before sitting down. Her eyes locked with Aiden's, and this time she didn't look away right away.

She didn't look angry to Aiden, but at the same time, she didn't look at him with the love in her eyes that she always used to look at him with. Not that he had expected her to look at him with that love. That would take a while to see that again, he knew. Even so, Aiden couldn't read her expression. Was she angry? Sad? Disappointed? Out for revenge?"

He looked away as the DA began to question her. He guessed he was about to find out.


	8. S1E8

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 1 Episode 8:_**

"Detective Brady, please tell us what happened the night Mr. Jennings allegedly strangled you," Justin ordered.

Aiden couldn't allow himself to look at Hope as she explained the horrifying night. He felt the guilt all over again. It seemed like she was describing some scene out of a horror movie; like she was referring to the villain in a movie. He'd never felt more despicable in his life other than that night of course. She wasn't describing a horror movie, and she wasn't describing a movie villain. She was describing an actual horrifying even that took place. She was describing him, and the horrible villainous thing he had done to her on their wedding night. He was ashamed of himself.

When Hope finished recounting the night, Justin asked next, "Did he seem aware of what he was doing?"

Aiden dared to glance at Hope.

Hope nodded, and looked at Justin. She actually looked sad to Aiden, unless he was just seeing what he wanted to see. "Yes. He seemed determined to strangle me to death."

"That is all the questions I have for her, Your Honor," Justin said taking his seat.

"Do you wish to cross-examine?" Judge Winters asked Frank.

Frank nodded. "Yes, Your Honor." He walked over to Hope. "Detective Brady, what was the last you remember of his demeanor before you ultimately lost consciousness?"

"Besides pure determination?" she asked. "Toward the end it sounded like he was tormented a bit, but I really couldn't say for sure. My back was to him for the most part, and once I was on the floor, it didn't take long for me to pass out. I really don't remember much clearly."

"Did he show any signs of malice toward you at any time in your relationship?" Frank asked next.

Hope thought about it for a moment. "We had our arguments like all couples do, but it was nothing serious. He always treated me like…" Hope stopped speaking for a moment.

"He always treated you like what, Detective?" Frank pushed.

"Like I was his world," Hope said quietly. This time, the sad look in her eyes was undeniable.

"Did he show any signs of suspicion the night before the incident?" Frank asked.

Hope nodded. "He came to my cottage after his bachelor party. He was a little drunk. He was in tears, and he told me he couldn't go through with it. He said I should run far away from him as I could. Or something like that. I don't remember his exact words. I thought he was having cold feet on marrying me, but he assured me he still wanted to marry me."

"So what was it, do you think, that he couldn't go through with?" Frank asked.

Hope sighed. "Looking back on it now, obviously it meant he was having second thoughts on killing me."

"Do you believe that Mr. Jennings would still try to kill you or anyone else if he was in the same position again?" Frank asked next.

Hope was quiet for a moment. This time, Frank gave her time to collect her thoughts.

"Objection, Your Honor. This is hard on her, and she is not on trial here. She shouldn't have to answer that question. How is she even to know the answer to that?" Justin objected.

"I'll allow it if she wants to answer the question," Judge Winters replied.

Hope nodded. "It's fine. I'd like to answer the question." She looked at Aiden, then at Frank. "Honestly, with all due respect, I'm not psychic. The only one who could say for sure is Aiden. As for my personal opinion…" She looked at Aiden. "No. I don't think he would. I've spoken to him since the incident, and I truly feel that he is sincere in his regret and his apologies. He was faced with an impossible choice at the time, and, as a parent, I can honestly say that I understand the state he must have been in at the notion of a threat to his son's life. I also know how being so torn up about something can drive you to do thing you wouldn't normally do. When my husband Bo died, I went insane trying to get revenge. Years before that even, I was on medication to help me cope with a problem I was going through at the time. The medication paired with what I was going through made me snap and try to kill all the men in Salem, as you might remember Your Honor. So, yes, I understand that the mind is a very complicated manor, and sometimes our actions, no matter how despicable they might be, aren't always cut and dry."

"Are you saying you forgive Mr. Jennings?" Frank asked next.

Hope paused again before slowly answering. "Do I forgive him? I'm not sure how I feel about that yet. Do I understand why he did what he did? Yes. That is all I have to say on the matter."

"One more question, if you would," Frank pressed. "Did Mr. Jennings show any kind of malice toward you when trying to kill you?"

"He did knock me over the head in the fight," Hope confessed, "but he didn't call me any degrading names or do any more than he had to to get the job done. I did find it odd that he didn't want me to see who he was. He was begging me not to take the mask off, and he did look completely upset when I did. I don't know. Most of it was a blur. But before that night, never had Aiden ever tried to hurt me, nor had he shown any hatred toward me of any kind."

"Thank you, Detective Brady. You've been very helpful," Frank said. "That is all the questions I have for you."

Hope left the stand, and headed over to Rafe. Rafe put an arm around her, and rubbed her arm, but didn't look happy.

"Are there any closing words from either of you?" Judge Winters asked, eyeing both Frank and Justin.

"I don't think people change overnight. If Mr. Jennings was willing to kill once, I have no doubt in my mind that he would be willing to kill again if the need to save his son, or even the need so save his own butt ever arrived again," Justin stated.

Frank then took his turn. "My client has had a year to think about it and has learned from his mistake. He was just in an impossible place, and he made a very bad decision to say the least. However, from that mistake, he learned that he was wrong. I think everyone deserves a second chance when they are truly remorseful like my client is. Also, even the victim confirms there was absolutely no malice when trying to kill her. He did it to protect his son, and no other reason. I know it's still wrong but it's not like he did it out of hatred. I ask that you please take these circumstances into consideration when coming to a conclusion on whether or not this goes to trial. "Thank you."

"I'm going to retire to my quarters. We will take a fifteen minute recess, then I will be back with my decision." Judge Winters banged his gavel. "The court is adjourned for now."

Everyone rose as they waited for Judge Winters to retreat to his quarters, then they were free to talk amongst themselves.

Aiden sighed. "So, how do you think that went?" he asked Frank.

Frank smiled. "I can't say for sure, but Hope's testimony went well. I think it's safe to say we can stay hopeful."

Aiden smiled weakly, but he couldn't get himself to feel good until he actually got the good news that he was free—if that even happened.

*This love came back to me*

"I don't know why you had to tell the judge that you understood why Aiden did what he did," Rafe said to Hope.

Hope shrugged. "Why not? I was on stand, and it's the truth. I had to."

"You honestly understand why Aiden did what he did?" Rafe asked, sounding a little annoyed.

Hope shrugged. "I wouldn't have said I understood if I didn't."

"How can you defend that guy after what he did to you?" Rafe asked.

Hope sighed. "Rafe, I know him a lot better than you do. I know he meant no malice toward me when trying to kill me."

"Hope, do you even hear yourself? The guy tried to kill you for goodness sake! That's not normal!" Rafe exclaimed.

Hope put her hand over Rafe's shoulder. "Rafe, you don't have a child, so I know you can't understand the bond between a parent and a child. I'm not saying what he did was right; it wasn't. It was absolutely despicable. But I truly believe it was a one-time thing. He just went temporarily crazy trying to protect his son. The thought of his son being killed made him go mad. I can totally understand that. I know better than anybody that no matter how good of a person you might be, you can still be pushed over your limit. It doesn't make you a bad person. People make mistakes in life. The question is, do we learn from them or keep repeating them, and I know in my heart that Aiden had learned from his mistakes."

"For starters, that was more than a mistake; it was a crime. Second, how can you say for sure he learned from his mistake and wouldn't do it again?" Rafe asked.

Hope glanced over her shoulder at Aiden, who was talking to Chad. She then looked back at Rafe. "Like I said, I talked to him. I know him. He meant it when he said he learned from his mistake."

"Yeah, well, he fooled you before, and I'm pretty sure he's fooling you again," Rafe said unconvinced, his arms crossed over his chest.

Hope glanced at Aiden again, her expression slightly distraught. "Yeah, well, we'll just agree to disagree."

*This love came back to me.*

Fifteen minutes later, the bailiff had them all rise again, and in came the judge.

They all sat down.

Judge winters spoke. "I have come to a decision. Will the defendant please rise."

Aiden stood with Frank. Justin stood as well.

Judge Winters continued. "I have decided that this case will _not_ go to trial."

Aiden grinned widely at Frank as a murmur was heard on the DA's side.

Judge Winters banged his gavel to silence the room. "But there are speculations. Mr. Jennings, you will do 1,000 hours community service, and pay a 100,000 fine. The court will work with you if you need time paying it off, but the longer you take to pay off your fine, the more interest will accumulate. Also, I am requiring you to not only get a psychiatrist for your own mental well-being, but also I need you to get help with your gambling addiction. In addition, I want you to work with a financial advisor. All of these professionals will be instructed to come to the authorities if you show any signs of slipping back into your old ways. Do I make myself clear?" Judge Winters asked.

Aiden nodded. "Yes, Your Honor. Thank you."

Judge Winters continued. "Having a son myself, I can sympathize with your dilemma. But take this as a warning, Mr. Jennings. If you show any signs at all that you are still a danger to this community, I will not be so gentle on you next time."

Aiden nodded. "Yes, Your Honor, of course."

"You will be hearing from the court concerning what and when your community service will be, as well as what you plan to do as far as playing your fine." Judge Winters banged his gavel. "Court is adjourned."

They all rose while the judge went back to his judges quarters, then they were dismissed.

"Chad placed his hand over Aiden's shoulder. "Congrats, Man! Don't worry. I'll have that fee paid in full by tonight. You have enough on your plate as it is. I will also see to it that Andre and Stefano don't bother you or your son any longer."

Aiden hugged Chad. "I don't know how I'll ever be able to repay you."

Chad pat his back. "Don't even worry about it. That fine is nothing to me."

They released from their hug.

"Thank you," Aiden said sincerely. "You're a good man, Chad. I truly appreciate all you have done for me and my son."

Chad smiled. "Hey. At least one of the Dimeras has to be good, right? Besides my son of course." She smiled and winked at Aiden.

Aiden smiled and winked back at him.

Aiden and Frank then shook hands. Aiden thanked him, and Chad promised Frank his check would be in the mail tomorrow.

Frank then left to attend to another client, and Chad had to get back to Abigail.

"I hope you supporting me doesn't get you in trouble with Abigail. I know Hope is her first cousin once removed, or whatever it is you call it," Aiden said to Chad.

Chad shook his head. "Hope understands why you did it, and I know Abigail does too. Now go be with that son with yours and make up for lost time. And good luck with Hope!"

Aiden pat his shoulder. "Thanks again."

"Anytime. But now, we're even," Chad said.

Aiden laughed. "You bet we are!"

Chad then left with a wave.

Aiden looked over at Hope; debating on whether or not he should go talk to her. When Rafe stepped aside to take a call, he decided he should.

He walked over to Hope, who was waiting for Rafe to get off the phone.

"Hi," he said to her.

She smiled weakly. "Hi."

"I just wanted to thank you for what you did for me on the stand. I want you to know, you won't regret it. I will never try to hurt you or anyone else ever again," Aiden promised.

"I did it for Chase. He asked me to speak on your behalf," Hope replied.

"Did you at least mean what you said?" Aiden asked.

Hope shot him a look. "Of course I did. I wouldn't lie on the stand—not even for Chase."

"Unless it was to protect our secret about…" Aiden trailed off.

Hope nodded. "Of course! I promised I'd never tell, and that hasn't changed."

"My love for you hasn't changed. I still love you Hope. I know you don't love me anymore, but I'm never going to stop loving you," Aiden told her.

Hope looked like she wanted to believe Aiden.

"I swear on my own life I'll never hurt you again. I swear on my own son's life I'll never hurt you again, so you know I mean it," Aiden told her.

"If I were you, I wouldn't go swearing on lives," Rafe said, coming back from his call. He nodded at Aiden. "I thought I told you to stay away from her."

"You can't tell me who I can and cannot see," Aiden said coldly.

Rafe started toward him. "Wanna make a bet?"

Hope held Rafe back. "Rafe! Stop it! Aiden and I were just talking. I can decide on my own who I do and do not talk with."

Rafe glanced at her. "You can't tell me you honestly believe his lies, can you?"

Hope sighed. "I'm trying to keep the peace for Chase's sake. Aiden's not going to hurt me. I wouldn't have spoken up for him under oath if I didn't truly believe that."

"He's messing with your mind. Don't let him do it, Hope," Rafe warned.

Hope looked at Rafe with shock. "Excuse me, but I am a cop. I'm capable of knowing when someone is messing with my mind."

Rafe shrugged. "You didn't when he tried to kill you."

Hope's mouth dropped open. "I can't believe you just said that! As if it were my fault!"

"I didn't say that," Rafe said slowly.

Hope crossed her arms over her chest.

Aiden cleared his throat. "Do you think it would be all right if I met Chase at school after school lets out? I don't know if he has certain people he's allowed to leave with or not."

Hope nodded. "I'm sure he'd be happy to see you. You're his Dad. You have every right to pick him up. Anyway, you weren't charged with anything."

"I know, but I still…" Aiden trailed off, not even wanting to mention what he did.

"Just go. I'm sure Chase will be thrilled," Hope said quietly.

Aiden nodded. "Thanks again, Hope. For everything." He then left, not wanting to deal anymore with Meat Head Rafe and his stink eye.

He couldn't help but smile as he was out of eyesight though. Rafe and Hope were already fighting because of him. Winning her back would be a piece of cake.

*This love came back to me*

When school was out, Aiden waited for Chase to exit the building. When their eyes met, Aiden grinned

Chase grinned as well. "You're out?"

Aiden held his arms out. "I'm not going to jail!"

"Ah man, yes!" Chase ran to his father, and they hugged tightly.

"Hope spoke up for me. I got 1,000 hours community service, and a hundred thousand dollar fine, but Chad is going to pay the fine off for me. I also have to get a therapist and get help with my gambling and money managing, but other than that, I'm a free man!" Aiden explained.

"That's great!" Chase said; excited.

"I can't believe my mom spoke on your behalf after what you did to her," Ciara said, suddenly appearing behind Chase.

Chase turned to her. "I told you he did it for me."

"I know why you did it, but it doesn't make it any less despicable," Ciara said to Aiden, staring at him the same way Rafe had.

Aiden's expression softened. "Ciara, I'm sorry. I—"

Ciara cut him off. "You're sorry? You tried to kill my mom and all you can say is, 'I'm sorry'? Are you kidding me?" She shook her head. "You know what? Save it! Just stay the hell away from me." She stormed off. "And that goes for my mom as well!" she yelled while still walking away.

Aiden sighed as he watched her storm off.

"Don't worry. She'll come around," Chase promised.

"I hope so," Aiden said.

Chase grinned. "Now let's go get something to eat. I'm starved! While we eat, you can tell me all about the trial, and what Hope said. Then we can work on a plan for you to get her back."

Aiden grinned at his son. He didn't know if he could get Hope back as quickly as Chase was hoping, but it still wouldn't hurt to talk about it. Besides, he would welcome this time with his son. It had been a long time coming. "Sounds good to me." He placed his arm around his son, and they headed off to find a place to eat.


	9. S1E9

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 1 Episode 9:_**

As glad as Aiden was no be alive, being supposedly dead for a year had caused a lot of problems. Not only did he need to be put back into the system as still alive, but he had zero money to his name. He was even more broke than he was the last time. Thankfully, his sister had wired him some money to get him started with his life again. He hated borrowing from her. She was married to a guy who was well off financially, but even so it wasn't like the guy was rich. He and his sister made enough combined to live comfortably, but they certainly weren't at Dimera status as far as money went, or even at Hope's status. He planned on paying his sister back once he had gotten his life in order. He even owed Chase some money, for he had borrowed money from him to stay at the Salem Inn the first night. Now, he was still staying in the Salem Inn compliments of his sister and her husband. He had his own bank card, but no credit cards. His financial advisor wouldn't allow him to create any more debt. In the meantime, he needed to get back to his job—that is if he even still had a job.

He now had an appointment with the Bar association and the DA about his job. He was nervous, but he had hopes that since he wasn't convicted of anything, they would only punish him with a suspension. Of course, he wished he wouldn't be suspended at all, but he didn't want to get his hopes up. He entered the building hoping for the best.

*This love came back to me.*

"Mom, I need to talk to you about something," Chase said, coming over to sit down next to Hope who was sitting on the couch.

Hope put down her phone, and angled her body to him, giving him her full attention. "What is it, Honey?"

"It's about Thanksgiving. I know you wanted to have Thanksgiving together, but I don't want my dad to be all alone."

Hope smiled weakly at him. "Honey, I'm sorry, but it would be too awkward to have your father joining us under the circumstances."

Chase shook his head. "That's not what I meant. I mean, I want to spend Thanksgiving with him; as in just me and Dad."

Hope's face fell a bit. "Oh." She pushed some hair behind her ear. "That's fine. Where are you going to eat?"

Chase shrugged. "I don't know. Probably just in the hotel. I'm sure room service has turkey or something. Anyway, I don't care what we eat. I just want to spend some time with my dad."

"You could always go to your aunt's," Hope suggested.

"My aunt says she doesn't mind paying for us to fly down, but my dad already feels bad taking the money she already gave him. He doesn't want to make her dish out more just for one night. It's expensive to fly out this time of year, and he doesn't have a car yet since his old one was sold at the auction," Chase explained.

"Well, I can give you the money. I'd be willing to do that for you so that you can have a nice Thanksgiving," Hope said, gently stroking his hair.

Chase shook his head. "My dad refuses to take any more money from you. He already took that money from you to pay off his debts last year. He refuses to take anything more from you than he already has."

"I'd be giving the money to you," Hope reminded him. "Yes, there would be enough for your father's plane ticket too, but it's your money. You will be the one to decide to give half the money I give you to him. Not me." Hope winked at him.

Chase smiled weakly. "Nice try, but my dad will never fall for that reasoning. Really, Hope, I don't mind staying in the hotel. For the past year, I thought my dad was dead. Now I find out he is alive. Mom, just being able to spend Thanksgiving with him is enough for it to be the perfect Thanksgiving."

Hope kissed the top of his head, not caring that he was no longer eleven. "You're a good boy. One thing your father did right was raise you."

Chase smiled. "I appreciate that. So, what are we doing for lunch?"

"Well, I have off, so why don't we go to the mall, eat in the food court, and see a movie?" Hope asked. "Ciara and Claire are out spending the day together, so why don't you and I do the same? It's not often we get to hang out together just the two of us." Hope grinned at Chase and winked at him.

Chase smiled and nodded. "Sounds good to me. But I'm not seeing any chick-flick."

Hope laughed. "What exactly constitutes as a chick-flick?"

"Anything sappy and romantic," Chase replied.

"All right. How about a comedy?" Hope asked.

"The new Adam Sandler?" Chase asked hopefully.

"You got it!" Hope said.

They then left the house, both happy to be spending time together.

*This love came back to me.*

Aiden was surprised that it didn't take long at all for it to be decided that he would not be barred from practicing law. Due to the circumstances he had been under, and due to the fact that Hope had testified on his behalf at the hearing, and that he hadn't been tried or convicted, they agreed that there was no need to disbar or suspend him. It also helped that he had had no malice when trying to kill Hope, and that is wasn't a recent happening. However, he was warned that they would be keeping an extra close watch on him.

"I think they are going a bit easy on you, but you may still have your job. I know I would do anything to protect my son, and I can see how the threat to Chase's life caused to you not be able to think straight. That being said, I still think what you did to Hope was despicable. Trying to kill the woman you love on your wedding night is unthinkable no matter what the reasoning. You should be ashamed of yourself," Justin had said to him.

Aiden had hung his head. "Believe me, I am."

"Don' get too happy. You may still have your license, but we'll just see what clients will still want you as their lawyer after hearing what you tried to do to your then wife," Justin had said before walking off without another word to or glance at him.

Now, as Aiden was headed into the parking lot, he had new hope. Things were looking up for him. Maybe he could now finally start to turn his life around. He would be a better man this time around. He wouldn't be so weak. Most of all, he would be the kind of man Hope needed him to be; the kind of man he should have been to her to begin with.

*This love came back to me.*

Weeks passed, and it was Thanksgiving. Chase wished Hope, Ciara, and Claire a Happy Thanksgiving, then headed out to his father's hotel room.

He knocked on the door, and when Aiden opened the door, Chase got a whiff of turkey. "Did you order it already?" Chase asked.

Aiden nodded. "I timed it perfectly to arrive when I knew you should be arriving. It just arrived a minute ago."

Chase walked into the room, and Aiden shut the door behind them. They then hugged.

"Happy Thanksgiving, Dad."

"Happy Thanksgiving, Son."

They sat down at the table and Chase took off the metal lid that was covering his food platter. There was white meat turkey and gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, stuffing, and a dinner roll on his plate. There was also packets of salt and pads of butter on the table as well.

"This looks and smells really good," Chase said.

Aiden nodded. "It sure does!" he said as he took off the cover to his tray and sat down across from Chase. "I have a confession to make. I took a peak before you got here, and almost started without you. In fact, I would have, but you knocked on the door before I could take a bite." He grinned at Chase.

Chase grinned too. "Well, then I guess it's a good thing I got here when I did, huh?"

"I know this will sound weird coming from the man who tried to kill his wife, but we should say grace before we eat," Aiden said.

Chase nodded. "I suppose it wouldn't quite be right if we didn't thank the good Lord for our food on Thanksgiving of all days."

So they bowed their heads, and Aiden gave a quick prayer to thank God for their food, then they ate up.

"So, I did a little work on getting Hope and you back together," Chase said as they ate.

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "What did you do?" He took a sip of his water.

Chase grinned. "I told Hope that I wasn't sure the Inn would even have pumpkin pie, and that I wished you and I could have some of Maggie's delicious pumpkin pie together that Maggie likes to make."

"So, you're thinking Hope will bring some over?" Aiden asked.

Chase drank his water as well, then nodded. "I'm hoping. Mom's good-hearted. I think it will bother her too much, thinking about us going without pumpkin pie. Well, at least me."

"Whatever gets her over here. But don't be too disappointed if she doesn't show though," Aiden said. "I just don't want to get your hopes up."

Chase nodded. "I know. But it was worth a shot."

Aiden nodded, then took another sip of his water before moving onto his dinner roll.

*This love came back to me.*

Hope sat talking, joking, and laughing with Rafe, his family, the Hortons, and the Bradys. They were all having a nice Thanksgiving together in the Brady Pub. Hope wished Chase could be with them, but she understood him wanting to have dinner with his dad. Despite what Aiden had done to her, it had been to protect him, and Hope knew personally how strong a father-son bond was. In her case, a father-daughter bond, which she knew was not any different when it came to the bond.

They finished their food, and Caroline, Jennifer, and JJ helped clear the plates. The Kiriakises were having their own Thanksgiving meal at the mansion, but Maggie had been nice enough to send a few of her pumpkin pies over to them to have at their Thanksgiving meal as well.

Hope's heart sank a little as she thought of how Chase was missing out on his pie. She thought of just bringing a piece home for him to eat later, but she was sure he would like to have it with his dinner. Also, he had told her wanted to enjoy some with his father. She had her pie with the others, then headed went back into the kitchen, gathered a paper plate up, and placed two slices of the pumpkin pie onto it. She then covered it with foil. She knew Rafe wouldn't approve of her brining Aiden pie, but he didn't have to know. She had never been one to let anyone tell her what she can and cannot do—especially not a man. Rafe was no exception.

She set the pie plate down on the counter, then walked back into the dining area of the pub.

She headed over to Rafe. "I have to run an errand. I'll call you later."

"What? Now? What errand could you have to run on Thanksgiving?" he asked.

"I want to go stop by the mansion and say Happy Thanksgiving to Aunt Maggie and Victor," she said, thinking quickly. "It's got to be hard on them, their first Thanksgiving without Daniel."

"I'll come with you," Rafe offered.

Hope shook her head. "No, it's all right. You stay with your family. I'm kind of tired anyway. I think the tryptophan from the turkey is already kicking in." She yawned for show. "I'm just going to go home and take a nap after I talk to them anyway."

Rafe still looked unsure, but he slowly nodded. "All right."

They kissed quickly on the lips.

"I'll call you tonight," Hope said before leaving. She headed out the front door, then around the pub and back in through the kitchen where she then grabbed the pie plate. Finally, she headed out the back of the pub.

As she got into her car and headed to the Salem Inn, she couldn't help but think how silly it was, sneaking around just to bring her son and his father some pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. She hated lying to Rafe and sneaking around, but even though she wasn't afraid of him knowing that she wasn't going to not do something just because he didn't want her to, she didn't feel like getting into it. So, she was just going to have to go behind his back. After all, what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him, and it would spare her the headache.

*This love came back to me.*

"Should we order the pumpkin pie now?" Aiden asked once they had finished their meal. "I don't think your mother is coming."

Chase sighed, looking a little bit down. "I suppose so. Dang, I really thought she would come!"

"We need to give her some time. Regardless of my reasoning, I did try to kill her. It's going to take her some time before she can trust me again. It's not like I simply took some money from her wallet and didn't return it," Aiden said as he began dialing room service.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

Aiden put the phone down and raised his eyebrow at Chase as if to silently ask, "Could that be her?"

Chase shrugged, then headed over to the door. He peered out the peephole. He then turned around and smiled at Aiden, giving him the thumbs-up sign.

Aiden grinned, and Chase opened the door, trying his best to look surprised. "Mom, you came!"

"I wasn't going to, but when the pie came out, I kept thinking of you being here without any pumpkin pie. You have to have pumpkin pie with your Thanksgiving dinner. It's tradition, right?"

Chase hugged her. "Thanks, Mom. I really appreciate it."

Hope kissed his cheek with a loud, "Muah!"

Aiden headed over to the door then, and smiled at Hope. "Hello, Hope. Happy Thanksgiving."

She smiled weakly at him. "Hello, Aiden. Happy Thanksgiving to you too."

Chase took the pie plate from her, and headed over to the table.

"It was really nice of you to bring some by. Thank you. Chase and I both appreciate it. And before you say anything, I know you did it for Chase and not me. Still, thank you," Aiden said to her.

Hope nodded. "You're welcome. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Maggie makes one heck of a pumpkin pie."

Aiden nodded. "I know. I had some out first and only Thanksgiving together." He pat his stomach. "No other pie can compare."

Again, Hope nodded, looking a little awkward. "Well, I'm going to be headed back now. I think I'm going to stop by and wish Maggie and Victor a Happy Thanksgiving."

"All right. Thanks again for the pie," Aiden said.

"Yes, thank you!" Chase said, his mouth already full of pie.

Hope laughed, then nodded at Aiden. "It looks like you better hurry up and eat your slice before Chase eats it all on you."

Aiden looked over his shoulder then back at Hope. "I think so!" he agreed. He paused then slowly leaned in and kissed Hope's cheek. "Again, Happy Thanksgiving."

Hope looked at him in surprise, but quickly hid it. "Happy Thanksgiving," she mumbled before taking off down the hall then disappearing into the elevator.

Aiden closed the door behind him.

"I can't believe you kissed her," Chase said.

Aiden sat down at the table, and slid his slice of pie toward him. "I couldn't help it. I needed to kiss her."

"Well, at least she didn't push you away," Chase said with a shrug.

Aiden nodded, "Indeed." He took a bite of his pie. It was delicious. He had forgotten exactly how delicious it was.

"But I bet if you had tried kissing her on the lips, she would have decked you," Chase continued.

Aiden took a sip of his water before replying. "I have no doubt. But give it time. That will change. Good things come to those who wait."

Chase nodded his agreement, and went back to eating his pie.

*This love came back to me.*

Hope touched her cheek as she drove to the Kiriakis mansion. She should have told Aiden off for trying to kiss her. Except, it wasn't really that big of a deal. Rafe would have cried bloody murder had he seen it, but he was never going to know about it. It was just a friendly peck and nothing more. Aiden had just been wishing her a Happy Thanksgiving. There was no use in blowing things out of proportion.

She sighed. So what if her heart had fluttered a bit at the touch of his lips? It meant nothing. They were nothing more than friends now—if you could even call it that—and that is what they were going to stay.

She put her hand back on the wheel, and drove the rest of the way to the Kiriakises, pushing Aiden Jennings and his kiss out of her mind.


	10. S1E10

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 **** ** _Season One Episode 10:_**

"Aw come on!" Ciara cried out. She slammed her hands down onto her laptop.

"Don't do that you'll break it," Chase warned, coming down the stairs.

Ciara rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"What's got you so mad anyway?" Chase asked, plopping himself down onto the couch beside her.

"Theo wants the new _Evil_ _Trolls from Outer Space_ video game _so_ bad. I want to surprise him with it for Christmas, but it is sold out everywhere! I had a bid on eBay, but I got outbid at the last second."

Chase laughed. "'Evil Trolls from Outer Space'? What kind of lame video game is that?"

Ciara shot him a look. "I thought you were past the bullying Theo stage."

Chase shrugged. "I'm not bullying him; I just think it sounds like a dumb game to want to play."

"Yeah, well, obviously it's not a dumb game since everyone and their cousin seems to want it." Ciara clicked out of eBay and onto Craig's List.

"Don't go to Craig's List. Haven't you ever seen the movie _The Craig's List Killer_? That place is filled with weirdos and psychos," Chase warned.

Again, Ciara rolled her eyes. "Okay, Dad. Stop being so paranoid. People use this site every day. If it was all that dangerous, it would be shut down." She stopped scrolling and clicked on a name. "Oo! This dude has one he's selling for double the price. It's a rip off, but it's the only one I see, and it will make Theo happy, so it will be worth it." She quickly messaged the guy to inquire about it.

"Ciara, I'm warning you, don't. I don't feel good about that site. It's not safe," Chase said; worried.

Ciara looked at him. "Relax! I know how to take care of myself."

"At least go with somebody," Chase said. "I'd go with you, but Claire and I have a date."

Ciara cried out in annoyance. "For the love of God, Chase, let it go! I'll be fine, really."

"I'm going to tell Mom. She won't let you go alone," Chase warned.

Ciara rolled her eyes. "What are you, eleven again? You're going to run and tell Mommy? Please!"

Chase scowled at her mockery and crossed his arms over his chest. "I have to go finish getting ready. I'll only be a few minutes. Promise not to go anywhere while I'm upstairs?"

Ciara sighed. "Fine. Whatever. I have to text Abe anyway to make sure he didn't already get it for Theo."

Chase headed up the stairs.

Ciara then took off her shoes, and set her laptop down on the coffee table. Next, she stretched out on the couch, and turned the television on.

When Chase came back downstairs a few minutes later and saw Ciara relaxing on the couch, he relaxed. "I take it Abe already got it for him?"

Ciara nodded. "The day it came out, he was able to get one. I guess it pays to be part of the police force."

"Well, good! Now I don't have to worry about you going out and getting yourself killed while I'm away," Chase said.

Ciara smirked. "Nope!"

"Maybe tomorrow we can go shopping together," Chase suggested. "I need to get my Dad a birthday present." He put his coat and shoes on.

Ciara's face fell a bit. "Yeah, sure," she said not so enthusiastically.

Chase sighed. "Ciara, he's my dad. I'm not going to turn my back on him."

"He tried to kill my mom, Chase. _Our_ mom. How can you be okay with that?" Ciara asked.

"He did it because he thought it was the only way to protect my life. I can't begrudge him for that," Chase defended.

"Yeah, well, what about my mom's life? He had just vowed to love her and to cherish her, and then he tried to kill her. He should have found another way to protect you," Ciara said angrily.

"Well, he didn't think there was any other way! He didn't _want_ to kill her. He felt horrible, and still feels horrible about what he did!" Chase snapped back. "He loves her."

Ciara laughed bitterly. "Your father doesn't know the meaning of love—at least not when it comes to the romantic kind."

Chase clenched his fists, but kept his cool. "We'll just have to agree to disagree then," he said quietly.

Ciara nodded. "That we will."

Chase then left without another word to Ciara.

Ciara waited a moment, then once she was absolutely sure that Chase was gone, she got back on her laptop, and checked her Craig's List messages.

"Yes!" She said when she saw that the guy had responded saying that he would sell the video game to her. His name was Matt. She quickly typed back with her own name, and asked when and where they should make the exchange, then waited for his response.

He messaged her back two minutes later, suggesting they meet at the park by the picnic area. Well, the place people would picnic when it wasn't winter that is. He told her to pick a time.

She quickly wrote back, "Is fifteen minutes good?"

He sent a message back in less than a minute. "See you there."

She emailed back a smiley face, then shut out the window, and closed her laptop. She then turned off the TV, put her shoes and coat on, grabbed her keys, shoved some money in her pocket, and then finally headed out the door.

*This love came back to me.*

Ciara arrived at the park. It was deserted, and she felt a little odd being there by herself. She was surprised it was so deserted. Of course it was never as packed in the winter as it was in the spring, summer, and even fall, but still… Usually there were lovers all bundled up and holding hands, going for a walk, or at least passing through from shopping.

She sat down on the bench and waited for Matt to arrive.

"Ciara?" asked a man's voice from behind her a moment later.

Ciara looked around to see a tall man with glasses too big for his face. His hair was greasy and brown with a comb-over which Ciara guessed was to try to conceal his giant bald spot. He wore a plaid shirt, dark wash blue jeans, and ratty Nike sneakers, all of which looked dirty. "I'm Matt." He said wiping his nose with the back of his hand.

Ciara got up off the bench and put on a fake smile, making a mental note to believe Chase next time when he told her about Craig's List people being full of weirdos. "Hi." Her smile faltered when she looked at his empty hands. "I don't see the game."

He sniffled. "I'm going to need the cash before I give you the game. It's a hot commodity, you know."

Ciara stepped back a bit. "Well, I'm not giving you anything until I see proof that you actually have the game."

He nodded. "All right. Fair enough." He nodded behind him toward the way he must have come. "Come with me. I have it in the back of my van."

Ciara put her hands up. "Woah, Dude, I may look young, but I'm not stupid, all right? Look, I'll just get it somewhere else. Thanks for nothing!" She turned to leave, but felt her arm being grabbed roughly from behind. She swung around to see that Matt suddenly had her arm. His expression was angry. "I'm afraid it's not a choice, Missy."

Ciara had fear in her eyes as she tried to pull away.

*This love came back to me.*

Aiden had just finished his community service for the day. He had been painting a room of a building downtown that the city council had wanted restored. After that, he had gotten off at the bus stop, gotten coffee in the square, and was now walking home. He decided to take a shortcut through the park.

As he walked, he heard a young girl crying out. "Help me! Somebody help me, please!"

He quickened his steps and headed toward the sound of the voice. Was it all in his head or did the voice sound exactly like Ciara's?

*This love came back to me.*

Ciara couldn't believe how strong Matt was. He didn't look strong but he was strong all right— _so_ strong!

He pulled her close to his body, and ground up against her from behind. "You know, I like 'em feisty! He ran a freehand down her cheek. "I'm going to have some fun with a pretty little thing like you."

"No, let go of me! Don't you touch me!" Ciara cried.

He pulled her even tighter against his body. "I'm way stronger than you, and I always get what I want. No use in fighting it, Sweetheart!"

Ciara kicked him in the shin, but it was hard to do much damage with his arms pinning the back of her body so tightly against his own body.

He pulled her hair hard from behind. "Stop it, you little bitch!"

Ciara was crying now. She had no idea what she was going to do. She wasn't strong enough to break free from him, and there was no one else around. They were far enough from the square that no one would hear her screams.

Suddenly, she heard Matt cry out in pain, and he released her.

She quickly stepped away from him and saw that Aiden had appeared behind Matt. Aiden had a huge stick in his hand and Matt was rubbing the back of his neck, which now had a bloody scrape on it. Ciara took it that Aiden had poked him hard in the back of the neck with the stick. The stick, she noticed, had a sharp and rugged edge at the end.

Matt turned toward Aiden. "Oh, you're a dead man!"

Aiden smirked. "No; people just thought I was," he joked, ducking as Matt tried to throw a punch. "You, on the other hand, are a burned man."

This threw Matt for a moment. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Aiden then tossed his hot coffee at Matt's face. It sloshed all over Matt's face and Matt screamed in pain.

"That's what you get for trying to attack a defenseless young girl!" Aiden snapped at him. He then motioned to Ciara. "Quick! Let's go. To the square. _Now_."

Ciara nodded, and quickly ran off with Aiden.

Matt was in too much pain to chase after them.

They didn't stop running until they got to the square and back to civilization. Aiden called the police right away to report the incident.

"Yes, I'd like to report a crime. A man in the park just attacked Ciara Brady… He's still in the park… I stopped him by stabbing him in the back of the neck with a stick, then splashing hot coffee in his face… Ciara and I are both safely in the square… Yes, we'll wait here." Aiden hung up after he was done talking to the officer who had answered the phone. He turned to Ciara. "They want us to wait here. The police are on their way."

Ciara nodded her agreement. "Thank you. I'm still _so_ mad at you for what you did to my mom, but thanks for saving me out there. I—I don't know what I would have done if—" Ciara was shaky, and had tears in her eyes.

"Come here." Aiden held out his arms, and was happy when Ciara surprisingly stepped into them. He gently rubbed her back as he comforted her.

"Why does crazy stuff like this always happen to me? I mean, my gosh, I'm not even seventeen yet and already I've been kidnapped twice, and now I was almost kidnaped for the third time, and almost raped on top of that!" Ciara whined.

"Just unlucky I guess?" Aiden joked. "Sorry," he quickly apologized. "I have a tendency to joke at bad times. "I guess I was just trying to cheer you up."

Ciara pulled away from him, but smiled. "No, it's okay. You're right. I am unlucky."

"Or you could look at it as you're gorgeous and in-demand. Everyone wants a piece of you," Aiden continued to joke.

Ciara found herself grinning widely even though she didn't want to. "Cute."

Roman arrived then. "Ciara!" He pulled her close and hugged her tightly. "What the hell happened?"

Ciara told him the story, beginning at wanting to buy Theo the sold out video game so she went on Craig's List, and ended with the details of the exchange going badly and Aiden saving her.

Roman turned to Aiden. "And what were you doing in the park?"

"I was back from my community service. The bus stop is right by the town square. I got some coffee, then took a shortcut through the park. Lucky for Ciara, I happened to be walking right near where she was, and heard her cries for help," Aiden explained. "I found the stick—the only thing I could think of at the time to use as a weapon—and jammed it into his neck just hard enough to make him release his grip on Ciara. Then, he threatened me and tried to punch me, so I splashed my hot coffee in his face to allow Ciara and me to get away."

Roman turned to Ciara. "Is all this true?"

Ciara nodded. "Yes. All of it. Like I told you, Aiden was just trying to protect me. That dude was strong. I was sure I was going to be kidnapped and raped. I would have been had Aiden not been there."

Roman nodded. "All right. You're both free to go." His walkie-talkie buzzed and he answered it. "Whatcha got?"

"The suspect is in custody," the officer on the other end of the walkie-talkie announced.

"All right, I'll be right there," Roman said. He then turned to Aiden. "Thank you for saving my granddaughter."

Aiden shrugged. "I did what any decent human being would do."

"Yeah, well, after what you did to Hope, no matter what the reasoning, whether or not you're a decent human being is yet to be decided." Roman then turned his attention to Ciara. "And as for you, Young Lady, I don't want to hear any more about you going off on your own to meet someone you met online, whether it be Craig's List, Facebook, a chat room, whatever. You got me?"

Ciara nodded, and looked down at the ground in shame. "Yeah, I got you."

Roman hugged her and kissed the top of her head. "Good! Now you get home. You hear me? Your mother's going to want to hear about this. If you don't tell her, I will."

Ciara looked like she was going to complain, then thought better of it. "Fine."

Roman then left for the park.

"Would you like me to walk you home?" Aiden asked Ciara.

Ciara shook her head. "Thanks, but I've got it. One bad lapse in judgment doesn't make me an invalid."

Aiden nodded. "All right then."

"I still haven't forgiven you for what you did to my mother, but I hate you a little less after today. Thanks again for saving my butt," Ciara said before leaving.

Aiden nodded. "Anytime."

They then both went their separate ways, Aiden wishing he still had his coffee, but not being able to afford a second one. He guessed he'd have to settle for the crap the Salem Inn lobby tried to pass off as coffee. At least it was free.

*This love came back to me*

Ciara got back home, still shaken from what had just happened. She was glad it was her mother's day off. Hope would have freaked out if she had been on duty and heard what had happened to her.

Ciara's eyes fell upon her purse that was on the coffee table. She supposed she had Chase to thank for that. Chase's warning had spooked her just enough to leave her wallet and everything at home. She had only brought the cash for the video game with her, which was thankfully, still in her pocket.

Hope came into the room from the kitchen then, and smiled at her daughter. "Ciara, Honey, hey! Where were you? You left your purse here."

Ciara nodded. "I know. Mom, I need to tell you something."

Hope instantly looked worried. "Uh oh. I know that look and tone. What's wrong?"

Ciara nodded toward the couch. "Not to sound clichéd, but you might want to sit down."

Hope did as told, and Ciara sat down beside her on the couch.

"I didn't want to worry you, but Uncle Roman's making me tell you," Ciara began.

Hope looked frightened. "Tell me what, Ciara?"

Ciara sighed. "I went to the park to meet up with a guy I met on Craig's List. He was selling a sold out video game that I wanted to get for Theo."

Hope's eyes widened with fear. "Let me get this straight. You met a guy Online, then went to the park, which, by the way, is mostly deserted this time of year, to meet said guy all by yourself?"

Ciara nodded, and looked down at the couch. "Pretty much."

"Ciara Alice Brady, you know better than that! I raised you better than that!" Hope snapped.

Again, Ciara sighed. "That's not the worst of it."

Hope put her face in her hands. "I'm afraid to ask."

"The guy turned out to be a real creeper. He grabbed me and tried to take me back to his van to rape me," Ciara confessed.

All the color from Hope's face drained. "Oh my gosh, Ciara!"

"I thought I was done for. The dude was _so_ strong! But then Aiden happened to be cutting through the park on the way back from his community service and heard my cries. He picked up a sharp stick and jammed it into the back of the guy's neck. The guy instinctively let go of me. When he turned around and saw Aiden, and saw that it was Aiden that jabbed him with the stick, he was going to attack him. Aiden thought fast and splashed his hot coffee in the guy's face. He then made sure we both ran to the safety of the Town Square. He called the cops. Roman questioned us both already and they got the guy who tried to do that to me." Ciara felt better now that she had confessed everything, but she noticed her mother looked like she was about to pass out. "Mom, are you okay?"

Hope nodded. "I'm fine." She took Ciara's hands in hers, and looked her in the eyes. "Ciara, I want you to promise me never to do something so foolish ever again. Do you hear me?"

Ciara nodded. "I learned my lesson; believe me."

"Promise me!" Hope snapped.

"All right! I promise to never meet some strange person off the internet again," Ciara promised.

Hope relaxed. "Good!"

"Can I got now?" Ciara asked. "I want to go to my room and call Theo."

Hope nodded. "Go ahead."

Ciara then headed up the stairs.

Hope sighed. So Aiden had saved her daughter. She wasn't sure how that made her feel. Of course, she was very grateful to Aiden, but the thought of him strangling her still haunted her sometimes even a year later. Still… If Aiden hadn't come along….

Hope shook her head. Tears were threatening to gather in her eyes at the thought of what could have happened to Ciara had Aiden not come along.

She pulled out her cell phone and selected the name she wanted to call from her contacts, then she pressed the call button.

After a few rings, the person she was calling picked up.

"Hello, Victor?" Hope asked. "It's me. Can I come over? I have a huge favor to ask you."


	11. S1E11

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 1 Episode 11:_**

It was Aiden's birthday, and Chase was eager to celebrate it with him. They were going out to dinner together that night, and then they would hang out the rest of the night.

Ciara had actually agreed to go shopping with him since Aiden had saved her from being attacked.

"Thank you for not saying I told you so," Ciara said to Chase as they walked around the mall, looking for the perfect gift.

"I figured you've been through enough already. I'm sure you learned your lesson without me having to say it," Chase said. He eyed a nice winter coat in the store window and walked in to look at the price tag.

Ciara followed him in.

"This is kind of pricey, but I've been saving up my allowance. You know, we really need jobs," Chase said with a sigh. If I had a job, I wouldn't have to be such a cheapskate."

"Doesn't he already have a winter coat?" Ciara asked.

Chase nodded. "Yes but it's so old. I'd like to get him a nicer one. I'm just glad Mom let me keep all his clothes in storage until I was ready to part with them. Now he still has them."

"And it's a good thing you were never able to part with them!" Ciara smirked at him.

Chase hung the coat back on the rack. "I don't know. It might be lame to give him a coat for his birthday."

"Why would it be? He needs to say warm and stylish, right?" Ciara asked.

Chase shrugged. "I guess." He looked through the other coats. "I kind of like this one." He picked it up and examined it. "It looks like something he'd wear." He looked at the price tag. "But it's twenty bucks more. Maybe I better stick with the first one."

Ciara took the coat from him. "What size does he wear?" she asked.

Chase shrugged. "I don't know."

"We'll go with medium. You can keep the receipt in case he needs to go up a size," Ciara said.

"But I told you, I can't afford to go that high," Chase reminded her.

Ciara shrugged. "I'll chip in the extra twenty. After all, the guy did save me from being raped. I'm still not thrilled with him, but the least I can do to thank him is get him a birthday present, right?"

Chase nodded. "I'm sure he'll appreciate it." He followed Ciara to the checkout counter. He knew Ciara hadn't fully forgiven Aiden, but she was at least starting to soften toward him a bit. Chase could work with that.

*This love came back to me.*

"Are you sure you wanna eat here?" Aiden asked reluctantly as he and Chase headed into the Brady Pub later that evening.

Chase nodded. "I have a craving for one of their burgers. I know this place is known for the chowder, but I personally think they have the best burgers in town."

Aiden sighed as they got in and he saw Caroline greeting the guests who were already seated. "Great! Caroline's here."

Chase looked at him in surprise. "Don't you like Caroline?"

Aiden nodded. "I like her just fine, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't like me any longer. Not after what I did to her ex-daughter-in-law."

Chase suddenly felt embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Dad. I didn't think about it. She is always nice to me, so I just figured—"

Chase was cut off as Caroline spotted them and headed over to them.

"Hello, Caroline," Aiden said kindly, though he knew his kindness wouldn't be reciprocated.

Caroline's eyes flashed with anger. "How dare you come into my pub after what you tried to do to my daughter-in-law?"

"We don't want to cause any trouble! It's his birthday and we just wanted to have dinner together. I was in the mood for a Brady Pub Burger. You guys make the best ones," Chase said. He felt bad that his father was being treated this way. He also felt slightly embarrassed, for people were starting to stare.

Caroline turned her attention to Chase. "You're always welcome here." She looked at Aiden. "You, however, are not."

Aiden nodded. "I understand. I'm so sorry to have intruded." He turned to Chase. "If you want a burger, go ahead. I can wait for you at the hotel. I'll just get room service or something."

Chase shook his head. "No. I wanted to take my dad out to dinner for his birthday, and that is exactly what I'm going to do." He turned to Caroline. "My dad only did what he did because he was blackmailed into it. The Dimeras would have killed me if he hadn't. I know you have lots of kids that I'm sure you would do anything to protect. Also, doesn't saving Ciara your granddaughter from being kidnapped and raped count for anything?"  
Caroline put a hand to her heart. "What about Ciara?" her eyes got big.

Chase winced, realizing she didn't know yet. He guessed maybe no one had wanted to worry her, and that is why they hadn't told her about the incident. "She met some guy online who was going to sell her this sold out video game she wanted for Theo. She met him alone in the park, he turned out to be a creep who was only there to kidnap and rape her. My dad happened to be walking in the park on the way home from his community service. He heard her screams then attacked the guy. He stabbed him with a stick and tossed hot coffee in the guy's face before getting Ciara to safety and calling the cops. If it weren't for my dad, Ciara would have more than likely been kidnapped and raped."

Caroline looked shaken. She then cleared her throat. She looked at Aiden. "I suppose you can stay for one meal since you saved my granddaughter. But after that, I'd rather you get your meals elsewhere."

Chase shook his head. "Forget it. It will be too awkward now." He nodded at Aiden. "Come on, Dad. We'll just find somewhere else to eat."

Aiden nodded at Caroline. "Have a good night. Again, I'm sorry to have intruded."

As they left the pub, the door shutting behind them," Chase apologized. "I'm sorry, Dad. I guess I should have known better."

Aiden placed an arm over Chase's shoulders. "Don't even worry about it. Thanks for sticking up for me."

Chase smiled up at him. "You're my dad. I'll always stick up for you."

Aiden hugged his son tightly. "So, what do you say we go a little out of town to eat? There's a place about twenty minutes away called The Cornucopia. Hope and I used to go there when we wanted to get away from it all. It may not have burgers as good as The Brady Pub's, but they do give them a good run for their money."

Chase grinned. "Sounds good, Dad."

They then headed to the bus stop together to catch a bus downtown. Lucky for them, the buses ran every fifteen minutes, and they had just enough time to get there before the next bus came.

*This love came back to me.*

Hope had texted Chase asking where he and his father were. She didn't want to intrude on their celebration, but she had just gotten the call from Victor that everything was set, and she felt it would be a nice birthday surprise for Aiden. She knew Rafe most certainly wouldn't approve of what she had done, but she didn't need his permission. She never needed anyone's permission to do anything. Anyway, he was at work, so he didn't have to know about this.

As she drove, she thought about her conversation with Victor the evening before.

 _"_ _Hello, Victor! How's my handsome ex-father-in-law?" Hope had asked upon her arrival at the mansion the day before. She kissed his cheek._

 _"_ _I'm a very busy man and I have a lot of things to attend to today, so why don't we skip the flattery, true as it might be, and get right to the matter at hand? What exactly is this favor you want from me, Hope?" Victor asked._

 _Hope blushed, and pushed some hair behind her ear. "Well, I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but Aiden isn't really dead," she began._

 _Victor nodded. "I heard about that. The Dimeras saved his life and then held him captive. Chad then took a turn saving Aiden's ass the second time and set him free. Then Aiden got away with no jail time for trying to kill you." He shook his head. "The so called justice system these days… Go figure!" he walked over to the alcohol and poured himself a drink. He offered one to Hope. "You want one?"_

 _Hope shook her head. "No thanks, I'm good."_

 _"_ _So, what is it you wanted to ask me?" Victor asked before taking a sip of his drink, then facing her._

 _Hope sighed. "I actually wanted to know if you could sign out a check to Aiden to pay off his dept. He owes the Dimeras a lot of money. They paid off a gambling debt for him, and have threatened Chase's life if he didn't pay it back. That is why he tried to kill me—it was the only way he could get the money to save his son's life."_

 _"_ _I think I need to go to the doctor and get my ears checked." Victor stuck his finger in his right ear and moved it around as if he were trying to clean it out. "I could have sworn you just asked me to pay off the debt of the scum who tried to kill you—money that will go to the Dimeras nonetheless!"_

 _"_ _We can do the best we can to protect Chase, but it still worries me. You know that even though they don't need it, the Dimeras will stop at nothing until they get their money. We both know the Dimeras don't abide with the law when it comes to getting what they want." Hope sat down on the couch. "Heck, let's face it, they never abide with the law, period!"_

 _"_ _I'm still not getting why I should help that scum," Victor grumbled before taking another sip of his drink._

 _"_ _You like Chase, don't you?" Hope asked._

 _Victor nodded. "He's a nice…for a teenager anyway."_

 _"_ _Well, don't you want to help me protect him?" Hope asked. "Aiden promises he's changed. You yourself should know better than anyone that a person can change. After all, you changed for Maggie."_

 _"_ _I never tried to strangle the life out of her!" Victor snapped._

 _"_ _Well, I know you'd do anything to protect your sons. And don't even try to tell me you never had a hit put out on anyone before." Hope crossed her arms over her chest._

 _Victor shrugged. "Some scum of the earth just have bad karma is all. It's not my fault if some unfortunate karma comes their way." He took another drink._

 _Hope rolled her eyes. "Well, Chase loves his dad, and Aiden loves him. Chase doesn't deserve to lose his dad for the second time. Anyway, Aiden saved Ciara's life."_

 _Victor was intrigued now. He raised an eyebrow. "Oh? How so?"_

 _Hope explained the whole story to him._

 _Victor listened, not speaking until Hope was finished. Finally, he spoke. "How do you know Aiden didn't purposely have that guy attack Ciara so that he could play the hero?"_

 _Hope raised an eyebrow at him. "How would he know Ciara wanted the video game, or that she would look on Craig's List for it? Why would the guy agree to being stabbed and having hot coffee splashed in his face? Aiden couldn't afford to pay him, nor world Aiden want to risk being put in jail again. Also, he would never put Ciara in danger like that. I know he tried to kill me, but he was just desperate to save his son. It doesn't mean that he would—"_

 _Victor cut Hope off. "All right, all right, I get it! How much does he owe?"_

 _Hope shrugged. "I'm not sure exactly. I was kind of hoping you'd sign a blank check out to the Dimeras. I'll make sure that Aiden tells me how much he owes before he knows why I need to know. Also, I'll be the one to fill out the check and give it to the Dimeras."_

 _Victor was silent for a moment as he thought about it. Finally, he spoke. "I'll let you know by tomorrow."_

Victor had called today just after noon and told her he would give her the money. Now, here Hope was, blank check in purse, ready to give Aiden his birthday surprise.

She pulled into the parking lot of The Cornucopia, remembering the times she and Aiden would go there to unwind. They'd have dinner, do a little dancing, then head back to the Salem Inn or, home if the kids weren't home, and then they'd…

Hope shook the thought from her mind and parked the car. She then headed into the restaurant and scanned it for Aiden and Chase. She saw them sitting at a corner table in the back.

She headed over to their table.

"Hey," she said, putting on a smile when they looked up at her. She then looked at Aiden. "Happy birthday."

Aiden looked surprised to say the least. "Thanks. I didn't expect to see _you_ here." He looked past her. "Are you here with Rafe?" He looked a little pained.

Hope shook her head. "No, actually, I came alone. I texted Chase to see where you guys were."

Aiden looked at Chase, an eyebrow raised. "Oh?" he didn't mention it to me.

Chase shrugged.

Hope glanced from Aiden to Chase to back to Aiden. "I told him not to tell you. I wanted it to be a surprise."

"Well, it's a very nice surprise!" Aiden stood up and held out the empty chair between him and Chase. "Please, have a seat."

Hope hesitated for a moment before nodding her head in agreement. "All right. Thank you." She sat down, and Aiden pushed her chair in for her before sitting back down.

"I just dropped by to give you a birthday present," Hope explained.

"Hope, really, you didn't have to give me a darn thing. Not after…" Aiden trailed off, his eyes dropping to his menu. "You just really didn't have to."

Hope nodded. "I know. It's not really from me per se anyway. It's from Victor."

Aiden looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Hope opened her purse then ran her thumb over the envelope that Victor had given her. "I'll tell you, but first, I want you to be honest with me. Don't lie to me like you did last time. If you really want to prove to me you've changed, you need to tell me the truth."

"What is it you want to know? I'll tell you anything," Aiden asked, staring into her eyes.

Hope looked away, for looking into his eyes was bringing up old feelings she did not want to be feeling. However, she quickly changed her mind and looked into his eyes again so that she could tell better if he was being honest with her or not. "How much money do you really owe the Dimeras?"

Aiden sucked in a breath and slowly let it out. "Why?"

Hope sighed. "Just tell me, Aiden. I trusted you and you tried to kill me. There's nothing you can say that will make things any worse."

Aiden sighed as well. "I owe six hundred thousand dollars," he said, looking her in the eyes.

"Even?" Hope asked.

Aiden nodded. "The hundred thousand you gave me before covered the interest."

Hope nodded. She could tell he was telling the truth this time. She then took out the envelope and a pen from her purse. She then took the check out of the envelope and filled it out.

Aiden and Chase both watched her in curiosity.

"Baby, I mean Hope, what are you doing?" Aiden asked.

"Mom, you don't have that kind of money, do you? If you do, what do you say I get a raise on my allowance?" Chase joked.

Hope smirked at him. "Nice try. It's from Victor." She turned her attention to Aiden. "For your birthday present, and to thank you for saving Ciara, I talked Victor into paying off your debt. Granted he's still not your biggest fan, but he is grateful that you saved his granddaughter. This isn't a loan; it's a gift from him. My gift to you is talking him into this."

Aiden was silent for a moment. "I don't know what to say. Are you sure? Is Victor sure?"

Hope nodded. "Yes and yes. It's a gift. You don't owe either of us anything."

Aiden jumped out of his chair and hugged a surprised Hope, who still sat in her chair. "I promise you won't regret this! Thank you so much!"

Hope smiled weakly, and placed her hands over his arms. "Yeah, well thank you for saving my daughter. Anyway, at least now we can be rest assured that Chase will be safe."

Aiden smiled, and gave her one last squeeze before sitting back in his chair.

"Stay and join us?" Chase asked.

Hope hesitated. "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

Chase shrugged. "Why not? You're already here, and I know Ciara is out with Theo tonight. Rafe is working. You have to eat."

"Plus, you came all the way out here. Why not stay?" Aiden asked.

Hope sighed. "I'm going to bring something to the station for Rafe and eat with him. You two enjoy your meal though." She quickly stood up, then turned her attention to Aiden. "I'll deliver this check to the Dimeras tomorrow. Victor doesn't quite trust you yet, and wants to make sure it goes to them. He also wants to make sure that you don't try to tack on anything extra."

"I would never do that," Aiden said.

Hope nodded. "I know, but this will just make Victor feel better."

"Thanks again," Aiden said, looking a little sad. "And please, thank Victor for me."

Hope nodded. "You're welcome, and I will. Thank _you_ for saving my daughter."

"I'd do it again in a heartbeat," Aiden said.

Hope smiled weakly, trying to ignore the pounding in her heart. "Again, Happy birthday."

"Thanks," Aiden said.

Hope turned her attention to Chase. "I'll see you at home later, ok?"

Chase nodded. "Thanks for helping my dad out."

Hope nodded at him and smiled weakly, then left, feeling good about helping Aiden, but bad about the way her heart still raced whenever she looked into his gorgeous blue eyes.

*This love came back to me*

"Thanks again for the coat. "I love it!" Aiden said as he and Chase entered Aiden's hotel room.

"I hope it's the right size," Chase said.

"It is. It fits perfectly! Thank you," Aiden said as he shut the door behind them. "So, what should we do now?" he asked.

Chase shrugged. "I don't know. Wanna watch a DVD?"

Aiden nodded. "We can do that. What should we watch?"

"You pick! I picked last time. There's a Red Box down at the Lucky Aid across the street. Wanna go pick something out while I raid the vending machines?" Chase asked.

Aiden laughed. "Sounds like a plan. Do you have a genera preference?"

Chase shook his head. "We have the same taste in movies. It's your birthday! Get what you want."

"All right. I'll be right back. Don't get any spicy chips this time. They did not digest well last time if you know what I mean," Aiden said, patting his gut.

Chase made a face. "Gross, Dad." He grinned nonetheless.

Aiden grinned too. "I'll be right back." He then left the Inn, and headed across the street to the Lucky Aid.

Chase then left the room, and prepared to do a floor-to-floor raid of the snack and soda vending machines.

*This love came back to me.*

Aiden rented a DVD he thought sounded good. He was feeling in a really good mood. Yes, he was thrilled that he would finally be out of debt with the Dimeras. However, that wasn't what had put him in such a good mood. What was giving him the walking on air feeling was the fact that Hope had gone out of her way to do this for him. Sure she said it was to thank him for saving her daughter, but he knew it was more than that. He could see it in her eyes. She still loved him. She was starting to forgive and trust him again. And now that he knew he had a chance with her, he was even more determined than ever to win her heart away from Rafe. This time, he was going to do right by her like she deserved.

He headed out of the Lucky Aid, and was about to head across the street when a lottery ticket caught his eye. It was just lying on the ground. He had seen stories of people who had won on scratchers and dropped the ticket. Someone else would come along and find the ticket and it would be a five dollar winner.

Aiden bent down and picked the ticket up. Chances were, this was just a junk ticket that some jerk was too lazy to toss into a trash bin, but five bucks was five bucks. Heck, even if it was just a chance of winning a buck, a dollar was a dollar. He stood back up and looked over the ticket. To his surprise, only two of the numbers were scratched off. There was still fifteen spots left to scratch.

"A twenty dollar ticket!" Aiden said, noticing the price. "That's insane to spend that much money on a ticket, especially if you're not going to make sure you scratch off everything." He sat down on a bench outside of the Lucky Aid and began to finish scratching it off. Of course he kept getting mismatched numbers. Nothing matched any of his lucky numbers. He scratched the final spot on his ticket, revealing a 5X symbol, meaning he won five times the prize shown.

"Yeah, I'll probably win twenty dollars," he said. "If even that." He scratched off the amount, and his heart nearly stopped when he saw the $200,000. "Yeah, right! I must be reading that wrong," he mumbled. He reread the instructions and the number three times before jumping off the bench. He did the math in his head. "A million dollars. I won a million dollars! Oh my gosh I just won a million dollars! I gotta tell Chase!"

Aiden ran across the street, almost forgetting to make sure no cars were coming. He ran through the lobby, ignoring the stares from the front desk clerks and fellow hotel guests.

He took the elevator up to his floor, ran down the hallway, and then pounded on the door frantically.

Chase opened the door. "Dad, what the heck?"

Aiden quickly pushed his way through the room and shut the door. "I just won a million dollars!" he said.

Chase laughed. "Yeah right!"

"No really, look!" Aiden shoved the ticket in his face.

"You must have read it wrong." Chase took the ticket from him and looked it over. Suddenly, his eyes got wide, and his mouth dropped open. He looked up at Aiden. "Oh. My. Gosh. You just won a million dollars!" he exclaimed.

"I told you!" Aiden said.

"You just won a million dollars!" Chase screamed. He slammed the ticket down on the TV stand, then got up on the bed and began jumping up and down with excitement.

Aiden didn't care that he was a forty-six-year-old man who should no longer be jumping on beds. He got on the bed with Chase, and together they held both hands and jumped up and down.

"A million dollars, baby!" Aiden said to no one in particular.

"Woooh!" Chase yelled.

They continued literally jumping for joy, not even caring if they were disturbing the peace.


	12. S1E12

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _S1E12_**

It was now Christmas Eve, and aside from having Hope in his arms, Aiden couldn't have been happier.

The morning after having won the lottery, he had gone to his gambling addiction councilor whom he now went to on a regular basis due to court orders. His councilor was helping him with his gambling addiction and making sure he stayed away from gambling. Aiden had wanted to assure him that he did not gamble. At least he didn't see it as gambling since he did not pay for the ticket; he had just found it. Lucky for him, his councilor agreed it wasn't necessarily gambling. However, the councilor wanted him to talk to his financial advisor about what to do with the money. His councilor also had a long session with him to make sure that he wasn't in the mindset to go out and actually gamble this time, hoping to win more now that he had gotten a taste of winning big. Aiden had assured him, he had no desire to gamble this away. He had learned his lesson. Besides, gambling would not be helpful in his plan to win Hope back.

After his counseling session, Aiden had done his community service for the day, then went and informed Justin himself of his lottery winnings. He explained to Justin that he had simply found the ticket and he had not bought it; that he wasn't going back to gambling. He also explained that he wouldn't have the chance to gamble the money away even if he wanted to, which he didn't.

He knew exactly what he was going to do with the money. First, he was going to pay Hope back for the hundred grand she had lent him before he had "died". Next, he was going to pay Victor back the money he lent him. He knew it was a gift, but still… Now that he had money, he wouldn't feel right keeping it. Of course that would leave him with no money left, seeing as federal and state taxes took away a lot of the million, but at least he would no longer be in debt to anyone. Well, other than his sister who was still supporting him, but he was doing better in his job. Sure a lot of people didn't want him as a lawyer after what he had done, but on the flip side, he also had people who sympathized with him and people who wanted to have their lawyer be the lawyer that was on the news and in all the papers. He had a good amount of cases so far with things looking promising for 2016.

Justin had looked at him almost as if he didn't trust him, and warned him that he _would_ find out if he didn't do with the money as he had said he would.

Another thing Aiden had in mind was getting into an apartment come January. He had enough money saved up from his cases he took on, plus, his sister was paying for his hotel stays.

He would receive his one-time check of $721,875—what he was left with after taxes—toward the middle of January, he was told.

Now, on Christmas Eve, Aiden headed over early to see Victor. He knew Victor more than likely had plans for later that night.

Henderson answered the door, then went let him in and summoned Victor per Aiden's request.

Aiden sat down on the couch, and a moment later, Victor came in.

"It's about time you came over to thank me for giving you the money," Victor grumbled.

"I'm sorry. You're right. I should have come over right away. It's just that, I won a million dollars on a lottery ticket, and I was busy trying to get the details of that in order," Aiden explained. "But thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me that money even though I'm pretty sure I'm one of the very last people you wanted to give money to."

"I'd do anything for Hope. Also, Chase is a nice young man. I'd hate to see anything happen to him. Also, you saved my granddaughter. It's the least I could do. As for the lottery win, are you even allowed to gamble?" Victor asked.

Aiden shook his head. "It's definitely not advised, but I was lucky enough to find a ticket on the ground; only partially scratched off. Imagine my surprise when I scratched it off and found out it was a million-dollar winner."

"Well, good for you! Just don't go blowing it now." Victor headed over to the bar to get a drink. He didn't offer Aiden one.

"I won't be receiving my money until the middle of January, but when I do, I'm going to be paying you back the money you gave me. I know Hope said you gave it to me as a gift, but I think it's only right that I pay my own debt now that I can afford to," Aiden told him.

Victor turned around to face him, an eyebrow raised. "That wouldn't leave you with much after the state takes out the taxes and you pay me back."

Aiden nodded. "I know, but at least I'll have the peace of mind that I didn't take advantage of your kindness."

"You saved my granddaughter; consider it a gift. You can use that money to get your life back on track." Victor took a sip of his drink.

"Really, I wouldn't feel right about it," Aiden said.

"Well, I'm not taking the money back. A gift is a gift. I'm no Indian giver," Victor grumbled, sounding a little grouchy.

Aiden stood up from the couch. "That's being more generous than I deserve."

Victor shrugged. "Yeah, well, tis the season. Merry Christmas early."

"Merry Christmas early. Thank you so much, Victor. Really, you can't imagine what this means to me." Aiden extended his hand out to Victor.

Victor looked at his hand but didn't shake it. "Just don't make me regret it. Don't blow that money."

Aiden shook his head. "I won't. I promise."

"You can see yourself out," Victor said, then heading out of the room and up the stairs to do whatever it was he had to do.

Aiden sighed with relief, then headed out. He was relieved Victor was letting him keep the money. It left him the ability to spend the money on what he really wanted to spend it on.

*This love came back to me.*

Hope sat at her desk, thinking back to when she had given Andre the money that Aiden owed him.

 _"_ _What brings you here, Detective Brady? I really don't like you being in my house. You know that, don't you?" Andre had asked._

 _"_ _Trust me, I don't like being here any more than you want me to be here. I only came to bring you this." She handed over the check to Andre._

 _Andre took the check and looked at it. "What's this?"_

 _"_ _That's for the money Aiden owes you, compliments of Victor," Hope said nodding toward the check._

 _Andre smirked at her. "Funny, I didn't think Victor Kiriakis would be so willing to help out the man who tried to kill his former daughter-in-law. Nor would I think you would want to help him."_

 _Hope glared at him. "Victor and I both know that Aiden only did what he did because you threatened to kill his son if he didn't."_

 _Andre grinned. "Oh, please! You have no proof of that."_

 _Hope shook her head. "We don't need proof. We know what kind of people the Dimeras are. Well, aside from Chad and the children of course."_

 _Andre folded the check and shoved it in his pocket. "You've done what you came here to do, now please see yourself out before I have you escorted out."_

 _Hope shook her head. "Not so fast! Now that you have your money, you are not to step foot anywhere near Chase, or even Aiden for that matter. Do I make myself clear?"_

 _Aiden made a clicking sound with his tongue. "It sounds to me like someone is falling for her Mr. Jennings again. Whatever would Detective Hernandez think of that now? Hm?"_

 _Hope narrowed her eyes at him. He was goading her, just as his father always tried to do. Well, it wasn't going to work. "Not that I have to explain myself to you, but I am doing this to protect my son. Also, I don't think Aiden should have to deal with you anymore. He's the reason I even have Chase, and he made some bad choices to say the least, but in the end, it is because you messed with his mind. I know firsthand what that can do to a person. Now I mean it. You stay away from Chase and Aiden or I'll—"_

 _Andre interrupted her. "Oh come off your silly threats! Don't worry. I have bigger fish to fry than Aiden Jennings and his annoying son. I'm bored with them both now. I have my money, so as far as I'm concerned, they can go on living their boring little lives. I have no more use for either of them, or you for that matter, so I'll tell you one last time to get the hell out of my house!"_

 _Hope shot him a dirty look. "With pleasure."_

 _She turned around and left the mansion, never wanting to step place in that hell hole ever again if she could help it._

"A penny for your thoughts?" Rafe asked as he came into her office.

Hope sighed. She hadn't told Rafe about giving the Dimeras the money. She knew Rafe wouldn't like it. However, she had been hiding so much from him lately, it seemed. She didn't want to hide this. "I have to tell you something, and you may not like it," she began.

"Uh oh. That doesn't sound good." Rafe pulled up a chair and sat down. "What is it?"

Hope sighed. "Well, after Aiden saved Ciara, I wanted to do something for him. So, I went to Victor and convinced him to write out a check to pay off Aiden's debt. I gave the money to Andre so that Aiden's debt to him would be paid off and Andre will leave him and Chase alone."

Rafe looked surprised, but not angry. "When was this?"

"Last week," Hope confessed.

"And you didn't tell me this until now? Hope! You should have let me come with you to give the check to Andre! You know how he seems to have a vendetta against you!" Rafe gently slammed his hand on her desk.

"I was afraid you would be angry because I was helping Aiden out," Hope said.

Rafe sighed. "I'm not thrilled with it like at all, but I know you mainly did it to protect Chase. Also, I can understand wanting to do something nice for him since he did save Ciara from her attacker."

Hope smiled. "Really?"

Rafe smiled back. "Really!"

Hope got up from behind her desk and held out her arms.

Rafe stood up and they hugged.

"Thank you for understanding," Hope said, holding him at arms' length.

"If it makes you happy to do that, then it makes me happy. Just next time let me know, all right? I don't like the idea of you dealing with Andre on your own."

Hope nodded. "All right, I promise."

They kissed.

"Well, our shifts are officially over. I promised my sister and father I'd help them at the soup kitchen again. Care to join us?" he asked.

"I'd love to except I need to get some last minute Christmas shopping done before going to Jen's. I still have to get your gift!" Hope smiled and winked at him, her hands on his chest.

"I already have yours," he said.

Hope raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? What is it?"

Rafe shrugged. "You'll just have to wait until Christmas."

Hope rolled her eyes but kissed him nonetheless. "I'll see you later at Jen's then?"

Rafe nodded. "I wouldn't miss it!"

They kissed once more.

Hope then grabbed her coat and slid it on. "I'll see you tonight," she said heading for the door.

"See you tonight," Rafe agreed.

Hope then left for the Square, wondering what she was going to get him, because really, she had no idea what to get him.

*This love came back to me.*

Aiden was walking through the square, looking on his phone to see how much money four years of college would be. He wanted to put the money he would have paid Victor back with to good use, and he couldn't think of anything better than assuring that Chase wouldn't ever have to worry about not being able to afford college. He saw that, as long as Chase didn't go to a super pretentious school like Harvard or Yale, it should run a total of around sixty-four thousand dollars, give or take. Chase wasn't the type to want to go to Harvard or Yale, Aiden knew. Chase's grades were good, but not Harvard or Yale worthy anyway.

Suddenly, Aiden felt himself crashing into someone. He quickly looked up while saying, "I am so sorry!" He then noticed it was Hope. "Hope! I'm sorry. I should have been paying attention to where I was going."

Hope shrugged. "It's all right. I kind of had my head in the clouds as well." She nodded at his phone. "You looked like you were engrossed in something."

Aiden nodded. "I'm sure you've heard that I won the lottery."

Hope smirked. "Chase has mentioned it a couple times or twenty."

Aiden laughed. "I think he was even more excited than I was. Don't worry. I didn't buy the ticket. I only found it, and it gave me no desire to gamble anymore. I'm not gambling this money away."

Hope nodded. "Good to know. So, what are you going to do with all that money?"

"Well, I was going to pay back Victor the money he gave to the Dimeras for me, but he insisted it was a gift, and won't let me pay him back," Aiden confessed.

"That was very generous of him," Hope said.

Aiden nodded. "He's grateful that I saved his granddaughter and said that he isn't an Indian giver."

Hope laughed. "That sounds like him."

"Anyway, I want to put that money to good use, so I'm going to set it aside for Chase to use to pay off four years of college. That is what I was so engrossed in on my phone." Aiden showed Hope to prove he wasn't lying. "I wanted to see how much it will cost me."

Hope put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm proud of you. You really do seem to be trying to turn your life around. That is an excellent way to spend the money."

Aiden smiled. "Thanks." He nodded at the bags resting on her arms. He had a couple bags on his arms as well. "I see you've been last-minute Christmas shopping as well!"

Hope nodded. "It's so hard to shop for everyone and know what they'd want. I just ended up getting gift cards for the most part. I got Ciara some clothes so she'd have something to open, but I mainly just got her gift cards to her favorite clothing stores and Sephora. As for Chase, I got him a karaoke machine. He doesn't want anyone to know, but he likes to sing, and he's good at it! He only sings in the shower, and in his room when he thinks no one else is upstairs to hear him though. I know he'll like the karaoke machine even if he doesn't admit it!"

Aiden laughed. "He was always singing as a kid and if I were to catch him, he would stop singing right away and blush a deep crimson. I wasn't allowed to mention him singing—ever."

"Aw! Well, hopefully this machine will help him come out of his shell a little," Hope said. "I got him a gift certificate to the store I got the machine from so that he can pick out the karaoke CDs he likes. Ciara told me he likes country, so I got him a Keith Urban one for now."

Aiden smiled. "I'm sure he'll love it. I just got him a bunch of movies he wanted, and a _Tommy Boy_ movie poster I got off ebay signed by Chris Farley and David Spade. It was slightly pricy since Chris is dead now, but it wasn't that bad. It came with a certificate of authenticity."

"That's his favorite movie of all time. He'll love that!" Hope said.

"I hope so." Aiden then remembered that he wanted to pay back Hope. "Look, getting off topic for a moment, I want to give you the hundred thousand you gave me to pay off Andre last year. I never should have taken your money to begin with."

Hope's expression softened. "Aiden, you don't have to do that."

"I want to. Hope, I've treated you so horribly. I can't even believe you're still talking to me after I not only tried to kill you, but took your money before that." Aiden's voice cracked a bit. "I don't even deserve your forgiveness."

Hope hugged him. "Don't say that. Everyone who is willing to change deserves forgiveness and a second chance. Lord knows I've had my share of screwing up in the past. I don't know where I'd be if I hadn't gotten a second chance or forgiveness from people."

Aiden hugged her in return. "I still want to pay you back."

Hope released him. "I've already forgotten about the money. It's gone and forgotten about, so there's no use in giving it back to me. Use it to help put your life back together."

"That's what Victor told me to do with the money he let me keep," Aiden replied.

Hope smiled, and pat his shoulder. "Then I guess that's what you should do, huh?" She winked and smiled at him.

"Well, at least let me buy you a hot chocolate," Aiden said, nodding toward the vendor they were standing nearby.

Hope grinned. "You don't have to do that either but, all right. It will help me warm up!"

Aiden grinned too. "Wait right here. I'll go get us some."

Hope did as told, and two minutes later, Aiden came back with their hot chocolates.

Hope smiled when he handed her hers. "You remembered that I like both whipped cream and the tiny marshmallows!"

He nodded. "Of course!" He then smiled at her. "I remember everything you love."

Hope blushed. "Shall we go drink this on the bench over there?" She nodded toward the empty bench that set a few feet away from them.

Aiden nodded. "Lead the way."

So, together they sat down on the bench, then blowed on and sipped their hot chocolates.

Aiden spoke first, breaking their semi-awkward silence. "I'm thinking about putting Chase's college money in an account under his name. He'll be able to access it only after he graduates, and only he will have access to it. However, I also thought that maybe I should put it in _your_ name. That way he won't be tempted to blow it on something other than college."

Hope nodded. "Well, he might appreciate you entrusting the money to him. I think he's responsible enough to use it on its intended purpose only. However, if you feel better letting me keep it until then, that could also be wise. Chase is a teenage boy. Sometimes that kind of money can be too big of a temptation for anyone, let alone a teenager."

"I'd really feel better letting you take care of it," Aiden confessed.

Hope nodded. "All right. I'll see about setting the account up in my name then. I'll keep it save until he's ready for college."

"Thank you. Just tell me when you plan on going to the bank and I will give you the money," Aiden instructed.

"I will. I'll go after Christmas," she promised.

"Thanks," Aiden replied.

Hope smiled. "Thank _you_! College is expensive as it is. It will be nice to only have to pay one tuition instead of two."

"I could pay Ciara's too if you want. It's the least I can do to help make your life a little bit easier," Aiden offered.

Hope placed her hand over his shoulder. "I appreciate that, so much, I really do. But I wouldn't feel right about that. You need the money. Anyway, a mother wants to pay for her own daughter's college. It's just a mom thing. It makes me feel good knowing I can provide for my daughter."

Aiden nodded. "I understand."

Hope hugged him. "Thank you for the offer though." She kissed his cheek. "It was very sweet of you to offer."

Aiden looked at her in surprise. Sure it had only been a kiss on the cheek, but after all he had done to her… He had never expected that! He decided to be daring, and kissed her cheek in return. "Merry Christmas, Hope."

She blushed, and pushed some hair behind her ear. "Merry Christmas, Aiden." She stood up. "Thanks for the hot chocolate. I guess I better be going." She held up her arm laden with the bags. "I have to hide these somewhere Ciara and Chase won't peek, then go to Jen's."

Aiden smiled. "Have fun!" he said.

"I will." She smiled weakly at him, then took off.

Aiden watched her until he couldn't see her any longer, then looked up Heavenward. "Thanks for helping me out. Any continued help would be greatly appreciated," he said to God. He then noticed the mistletoe that was hanging on a branch from the tree behind them. He didn't know if an employee or some passerby had put it there.

He grinned. If he hadn't noticed it before he doubted Hope had. Of course this meant she had kissed him because she wanted to—not because of the mistletoe; just as he had kissed her simply because he wanted to.

He downed the rest of his hot chocolate then ditched the cup in the trashcan before taking off, happily whistling, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" as he headed for home.


	13. S1E13

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 1 Episode 13:_**

Christmas has been nice. Aiden had been touched when Chase bought him a new laptop. According to Chase, he and Hope had gone in on it together. Seeing as it was a Mac, and that Chase didn't have a ton of money, Aiden knew that Hope had funded most of it.

Aiden wondered if Rafe knew about it. He was guessing not.

Chase had loved his movie poster from Aiden. He had even admitted that he loved his karaoke machine and Keith Urban karaoke CD from Hope and was excited to pick out other karaoke CDs to go with it.

Aiden had gotten Hope a gift card to her favorite shoe store which he had had Chase give to her for him on Christmas when Rafe wasn't around to see. Chase said she seemed happy with it and had said to thank him for her. He had only spend $100 dollars on her. He hadn't wanted to be overly extravagant with his purchase for fear of scaring her off. Though, he felt now that maybe he didn't have to worry about it since she spent so much more on him, or as she would like him to believe, "Chase" had.

Nearly a week had passed since Christmas, and now it was New Year's Eve. The square was having a big party complete with a ball dropping. There was going to be a movie screen-sized screen set up at the park that would air the Times Square Ball drop. Everyone was invited who wanted to go, and Chase had talked Aiden into going.

"I don't know why I let you talk me into this," Aiden said as he straightened up his tie. "Most of Salem hates me for what I did to Hope. Or why I'm even bothering to dress up. We're only going to the park."

"Because Hope doesn't hate you, and you're going to get to see her and thank her for helping me with my gift to you," Chase said, coming up behind Aiden and placing a hand over his shoulder. "And you want to look good for Hope, don't you?"

Aiden smiled at his son in the mirror. "Of course I do."

"Anyway, most of the party is held at The Edge anyway. And everyone dresses up for New Year's Eve." Chase went to sit down on the bed.

"True. I just wish Hope wouldn't be there with Rafe like she no doubt will be." Aiden turned around to face Chase. "How do I look?"

"Way better than Mr. Eyebrows; that's for sure," Chase said.

Aiden laughed. "Who?"

"Rafe!" Chase explained. "The dude's got two caterpillars over his eyes! He needs to learn how to groom himself."

Aiden burst out laughing. "You're bad."

"Well it's true! Too bad he's dumb as a bag of rocks. He'd probably shave both his eyebrows completely off if he tried to groom them," Chase continued. "I'm just surprised they haven't turned into butterflies yet."

Aiden laughed so hard he had tears in his eyes. "Stop! I'm going to pee my pants."

Chase laughed too. "If you're to that point, I think you better go to the bathroom before we leave."

Aiden nodded. "I think I had better."

Chase shook his head. "I can't believe I ever went along with Ciara's plan to push Mom and Rafe together last year."

"When?" Aiden asked.

"Shortly after you died." Chase replied. "Ciara invited him to come to her family's cabin with us and Mom. She wanted me to help her get them together. I knew it was messed up and weird, but I had a lame ass crush on her back then, so I agreed to it just to please her. She has a way of manipulating people to get what she wants. Not that she knew I was crushing on her at the time, but still…"

"Well, don't ever try to push Rafe and Hope together again or I'll have to disown you," Aiden joked as he headed for the bathroom.

Chase rolled his eyes. "I'd disown _myself_ if I ever tried to pair mom and Eyebrows together again." He grinned when he heard Aiden's loud laughter coming from the bathroom.

*This love came back to me.*

"Mom, you look smoking hot!" Ciara said as she came down the stairs.

Hope smiled, and looked down at her outfit. "You really think so? It's not too much?" She was wearing a low-cut silver blouse with a silver necklace that had little diamond fleur-de-lises all around it. She wore tight black leather pants with black Christian Louboutin pumps.

Ciara shook her head. "Not at all! I'm sure Rafe will love it!" Her face darkened a bit. "I just wish Chase wasn't bringing Aiden with him and Claire. I don't want him perving all over you."

Hope smirked. "Aiden isn't a pervert."

Ciara crossed her arms over her chest. "How do you know? You never thought he'd be an attempted murder either and he is."

Hope sighed. "Ciara, I just want to put all that behind me okay? I want to enjoy this night tonight, so can we please just talk about something else?"

Ciara looked down to the floor. "You're right. I'm sorry."

Hope really looked at Ciara then. "So, you better get ready. Theo will be here soon."

Ciara raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? You can see I'm wearing my dress already."

Ciara was wearing a very low-cut black sequined dress that went to her mid-thigh.

"I see you're wearing a dress that you are not allowed out in public in," Hope stated.

Ciara rolled her eyes. "Mom, please! I'm going to be seventeen soon. I'm old enough to decide what to wear on my own."

Hope shook her head. "When you turn eighteen you can wear whatever you please. No, correction, as long as you're under my roof, you will not dress like…well…like that! I mean it Ciara. Go change into something more appropriate. End of discussion!"

"But Mom! I bought this specifically to wear tonight!" Ciara said stomping her foot as if she were ten years old again.

"It you wear a higher collared blouse underneath the dress, flats instead of heels, and black opaque tights instead of the nude ones, you may wear that dress," Hope compromised.

"But that would look stupid!" Ciara argued.

"Well, then I guess you better go change quick, huh?" Hope asked.

"This is so not fair!" Ciara nodded at Hope. "You're wearing a low-cut blouse. It's about as low-cut as this dress!"

Hope held her head high. "That's different. I'm much older than you."

"Yeah, and your boobs are much saggier than mine. You're supposed to wear low-cut stuff when your boobs still stand up on their own like mine!" Ciara snapped, cupping her hands underneath her boobs.

Hope gasped, then put her hand on her hip and gave Ciara a look that showed she meant business.

Ciara's eyes widened. She knew she had gone too far. "I'll go change into something much more age-appropriate."

Hope's eyes flashed. "You do that," she said.

Ciara disappeared up the stairs and Hope shook her head. She then went over to the mirror to check out her chest. Lifting her own boobs up a bit. "They don't sag _that_ much," she muttered to herself.

*This love came back to me.*

Aiden sat at a table with Chase and Claire at The Edge. They had just ordered dinner.

Chase and Claire were talking about their "annoying" calculous teacher. Aiden turned them out, never having cared much for math. He saw that everyone in Salem seemed to be there. He looked for Hope and saw her coming into the club with Rafe on her arm. She looked incredibly sexy. He wished so badly she was there on his arm instead of "Eyebrows'" as Chase had dubbed him, arm. Rafe was wearing jeans and a dress shirt. He looked like a dufus next to Hope. Though, no matter what he wore, in his opinion, Rafe always looked like a dufus.

Hope's eyes met with his from across the room, and she gave him a slight smile. He smiled back at her.

Ciara came in behind her wearing a sparkly turtleneck and a black leather skirt that went just above her knees. She wore nude tights and heels with it. He thought Ciara looked cute in a little girl way. Though, he had to admit, it didn't seem like something Ciara would wear seeing as Ciara had always been more of the acting older than she is type. This outfit was definitely not an older than her age outfit.

Theo appeared behind her, looking happy as a clam to be with her no matter what she wore. It made Aiden smile. He knew the feeling. It was exactly how he felt about Hope.

Hope and Rafe were seated not far from him and the kids. Ciara and Theo sat with them.

Abe was nowhere to be seen—one of the few people not there, Aiden noticed.

They had menus; apparently they had chosen to eat dinner there as well.

"Dad?"

Aiden looked over at the sound of Chase's voice. "Hm?"

"I was just asking when you get your new place," Chase repeated.

"Oh! I sign the lease tomorrow and I can move in in a couple days," Aiden said. His drink came, and he took a sip.

"Claire, we can throw all the parties we want there!" Chase said to Claire, who smiled big and nodded vigorously.

Aiden smirked. "Nice try. You're welcome to have a few friends over at a time, but definitely no parties. Most of Salem hates me. I'm not going to make most of my apartment building hate me as well."

"People will come around. I think what you did for Chase was a little misguided, but in an odd way kind of sweet. I doubt my mom cares enough about me to kill my dad for me. Now my dad, I could possibly see killing my mom for me, but she's a…" Claire trailed off not wanting to badmouth her mother. "Let's just say she makes it easier for people to be able to live without her."

"That's putting it mildly," Chase said with a snort.

Claire elbowed him hard.

"Hey! You started this whole bashing your mom thing," Chase reminded her.

Claire took a sip of her Shirley Temple. "That's different. She's _my_ mom. I'm allowed to."

Chase rolled his eyes.

Aiden turned his attention back to Hope and Rafe's table. They had just ordered, and now Theo was dragging Ciara out onto the dancefloor.

Rafe was motioning something to Hope that looked like he was asking her to dance.

Hope nodded, and left her purse on the table. They then got up to dance.

Aiden instantly flashed back to memories of dancing with Hope in this very club. She had been wearing the sexiest leather top and skirt. He had wanted to take her home that night, but they both had a busy day the next day. Had he had that night to do all over again, he would have convinced her to spend the night with him. Being late the next day would have been worth it.

He clenched his glass hard as he saw Hope and Rafe swaying their bodies together a little more provocatively than Aiden would have preferred. He remembered when Hope used to dance with him that way.

"Dad!"

Aiden looked at Chase. "What?"

"Gosh, where is your head tonight? It's the third time I called you. Claire and I are going to go dance. Would you like to dance with us?" Chase asked.

Aiden shook his head. "No, thanks. You two go have fun."

Chase shrugged, and led Claire out onto the dancefloor.

As Aiden watched Hope and Rafe dance, he kept getting angrier. "On second thought, maybe I _will_ go dance." He stood up and headed over to Rafe and Hope. "May I cut in?" he asked Rafe.

Rafe shot him a look, and laughed in disbelief. "No. Get out of here!"

"Rafe!" Hope scolded.

Rafe nodded toward Aiden while looking at Hope. "He has some nerve asking you to dance after what he did to you." He turned to Aiden. "Not to mention the fact that she isn't your woman anymore. Now go before I make you go!"

Aiden turned to Hope. "I'm sorry, Hope. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I just wanted to dance with my friend." He turned and left, a smirk on his face once his back was turned toward them. He knew Rafe would never allow him to dance with Hope. But he also knew that Rafe would end up looking like a jerk toward Hope while he himself looked like the poor innocent guy just trying to get people to like him again.

He sat back down at the table and glanced over at Hope who looked like she was shooting daggers out of her eyes at Rafe.

He smirked again. "Mission accomplished."

*This love came back to me.*

It was an hour before midnight, and Hope was feeling a little annoyed. She didn't like who Rafe was when he was around Aiden. He turned into a macho jerk, and it wasn't appealing to her in the least.

"Hope, how many times do I have to apologize? I just don't like that he suddenly thinks you two are friends. I was just trying to protect you," Rafe said. They were listening to the karaoke going on, but Hope, her arms crossed over her chest, didn't even crack a smile at the laughable horrible singing going on.

Hope glanced at him. "I don't need protecting, Rafe. I can handle myself."

"You couldn't handle yourself that night," Rafe reminded her.

Hope scowled at him and looked away.

"All right, that was out of line. I'm sorry." Rafe sighed. "Hope, it's New Year's Eve. Let's not go into this new year fighting, all right?"

Hope looked at him. "You really should apologize to Aiden."

Rafe shook his head. "Not going to happen."

Hope raised an eyebrow and shrugged, still looking miffed.

"But I promise not to go off on him next time. I will be civilized," Rafe offered.

Hope's expression softened a bit.

"All right?" Rafe asked reaching a hand over and gently rubbing her arm.

Hope smiled, and uncrossed her arms. "All right."

Just then, Rafe's phone rang. "It's Lani," he announced while looking at the caller ID. I'll be right back." He answered it. "Lani, what's up?" He asked as he headed outside where it was quieter.

Hope winced as Theo sang Michael Jackson's "Bad." It was bad all right. She felt bad for thinking that way of Theo, but it was true. He was a total sweetheart, yes. But the boy couldn't sing to save his life. Ciara, however, looked like she thought it was a beautiful Symphony. That made Hope smile. Her baby girl was growing up and falling in love. Apparently love not only made you blind, but deaf as well. She smirked at her own inward joke.

Just then, Rafe came back in, looking a little glum.

"What's wrong? Is Lani all right?" Hope asked; worried.

Rafe shook his head. "They are short on officers tonight with everyone out doing extra runs to make sure no one is drunk driving. She needs me to back her up. She tried arresting a drunk along Highway 39, and he is being difficult."

"So she needs you to go help her," Hope stated.

Rafe nodded. "I won't be long, I promise. I'll be back by midnight." He kissed Hope softly on the lips.

"You better be. I need these lips at midnight," Hope said with a grin.

"And you'll get them, I promise," Rafe said. "Here's one to hold you off until then." He kissed her.

Hope pulled him back for one more after he broke the kiss.

They grinned at each other.

"I'll be right back!" Rafe said before taking off.

Hope sighed, then looked around the club. Her eyes met with Aiden's. He got up and headed over to her. He sat down in front of her. "So, where's Rafe off to before midnight?"

"Lani needed him to help her with an arrest," Hope stated.

"There were no other officers that could help her?" he asked.

Hope shrugged. "They're short on staff."

"Super Rafe to the rescue," Aiden joked.

Hope narrowed her eyes at him. "I told Rafe off for being crass with you. I'd appreciate if you weren't crass toward him either."

Aiden held up his hands in defense. "All right, I'm sorry. So. Is he gone for the night?"

"He'll be back by midnight," Hope replied.

"Well, how about I keep you company until then?" Aiden asked.

Hope nodded. "I suppose I wouldn't mind a little company. By the way, thank you for the gift card. You didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to. You've done so much for me that I am undeserving of," Aiden replied.

"Stop being so down on yourself. What's done is done and what's over is over. There's no need to keep bringing it back up," Hope said, finishing her drink.

Aiden motioned the waiter over. "She'll have another of whatever that was, and I'll have the same please."

The waiter nodded, and went off to get their drinks.

"Thank you for the laptop. I know it was from Chase, but he told me you chipped in. I know he couldn't even afford half that laptop, so thank you for paying for most of it," Aiden said.

Hope blushed. "He wanted to get you something nice. Besides, I know you need a good computer for your line of work."

Aiden nodded. "That I do. It's hard starting life over from scratch and losing everything you once had." He looked sadly and longingly at Hope, a double meaning behind his words.

"I bet it is," Hope said, looking a little sad herself. "Look, I'm sorry for the way Rafe treated you earlier. He's just overprotective of me," Hope apologized.

Aiden shrugged. "It's all right. I get it. It's understandable. He has no need to worry now though. I'd never hurt you."

Hope nodded. "I know," she said almost too quiet for him to hear.

"Who's bad?!" Theo sang, ending the song.

"You're bad!" Aiden muttered, only loud enough for Hope to hear him.

Hope covered her mouth and snickered into her hand.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be rude, but singing is not that boy's forte," Aiden said.

Hope sighed and shook her head. "Sadly, no. It isn't."

"You should get up there and sing," Aiden said, nodding toward the karaoke stage.

"Oh, no! Trust me, you do not want to hear me sing!" Hope said.

"Ah, I'm sure you sound just fine," Aiden said. Their drinks arrived and they both took a sip.

"I sound like… I don't know. I sound like something no one wants to hear," Hope said. She nodded at Aiden. "You go up and sing."

"I can't sing either," he said.

Hope shrugged, and sipped her drink. "So? You still wanted me to sing even though I can't sing." She raised an eyebrow. "What are you—all talk and no action?"

Aiden nodded. "Fine. I'll show you there's nothing to it. But first, I'm gonna need this." He took his drink and drank the rest all down in one gulp. He set the glass down with a satisfied "Ah!" then headed to the stage to look over the book.

Hope smirked, and covered her mouth in amusement.

Two minutes later, Aiden was up on stage. "I'd like to dedicate this song to my good friend Hope who didn't think I would be brave enough to do this." Suddenly, the opening tune to Frank Sinatra's "You Make Me Feel So Young" began to play, and Aiden began to sing.

"Oh my gosh." Hope buried her face in her hands, but she peeked through her fingers with a grin.

 _"_ _You and I are just like a couple of tots running across a meadow."_ He ran across the stage with the mic. _"_ _Pickin' up lots of forget-me-nots."_ He pretended to be picking up flowers.

Hope shook her head, but started laughing. She glanced over at Chase who was watching his father with a look of complete horror and embarrassment on his face. Hope laughed even harder.

She calmed herself down and smiled at Aiden as he continued to sing the song. He even made eye contact with her at most points.

 _"_ _And even when I'm old and gray, I'm going to feel the way I feel today. Cause you make me feel so young!"_ He wasn't the best singer, but he also wasn't the worst Hope had ever heard. He even got lots of applause. Everyone looked like they had enjoyed it except for Chase who was now a bight shade of crimson and crouched down very low in his chair.

Hope applauded and cheered for him the loudest, smirking at their son's embarrassment.

Aiden bowed. "Thank you, Goodnight!" he said. He then practically skipped over to Hope's table and sat across from her again. "So, did you love it?" He teased with a wink.

Hope grinned. "Actually, I did."

He grinned back.

*This love came back to me.*

"All right, everybody, it's time to move on out to the park for the ball drop!" Jake, the bartender announced. "We have fifteen minutes until the ball drops!"

Hope checked her phone. There was no word from Rafe yet. She thought of calling him, but knew he would get there when he could. She didn't want to call him when he was in the middle of working.

"I'll walk out with you and wait with you. I'll take off as soon as Rafe gets here, I promise," Aiden said.

Hope scanned the room. Ciara and Theo were already on their way out the door with Claire and Chase. They clearly weren't waiting for her. She turned to Aiden. "All right. Sure."

Aiden helped her with her coat, and he put on his coat as well. They then headed out to the park after paying for their drinks. They had already paid for their dinners.

*This love came back to me.*

Soft instrumental music was playing as they waited for midnight to arrive.

"May I have this dance now while Rafe's not around?" Aiden asked, holding out a hand to Hope.

Hope looked at his hand and hesitated for just a moment before nodding and smiling. "Sure."

Together they danced, so closely that it reminded Aiden of their dance at the gala a couple years before.

He looked at Hope. He wanted to kiss her so badly. She looked like she wanted to kiss him as well. His eyes roamed over her body. She really did look so amazing. Her body was so perfect in in that low-cut blouse…

"Ciara was right."

"Huh?" Aiden snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of Hope's voice.

"Ciara was right," Hope repeated.

"About what?" Aiden asked; confused.

Hope smirked. "You _are_ 'perving' over my outfit, as she put it."

Aiden felt his cheeks flushing. "I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. You just look so smoking hot tonight."

Hope smiled. "It's all right. It's kind of nice to know I've still got it at my age."

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "At your age? Baby, you're not old by any means. Anyway, I don't care if you're 90 years old. You'll always have it! I mean Hope. Sorry. I didn't mean to call you Baby. It just slipped out—out of habit."

Hope smiled at him and gently stroked his cheek. "Thank you." She then raised an eyebrow of her own. "We'll see if you still feel that way when I'm actually 90 years old." She smirked.

"I will. I have no doubt," Aiden said.

Hope looked touched.

"All right, it's time for the ball drop!" Jake the bartender loudly announced.

Hope looked around. Rafe was still nowhere to be found.

"I guess he's not coming after all," Aiden said.

Hope shook her head. "I guess not."

The countdown began. Aiden counted down along with everyone. Hope, though she looked disappointed that Rafe wouldn't be there, put on a brave face and counted down as well.

"Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One! Happy New Year!"

Aiden didn't know what had come over him, whether it be the alcohol or what. Whatever it was, it gave him a sudden burst of courage. He pulled Hope in and kissed her softly on the lips. She cried out in surprise at first, but then, to his delight, she returned his kiss.

*This love came back to me.*

In her mind, Hope knew she shouldn't be kissing Aiden, but at the same time, she couldn't get herself to stop—not even when her phone started to ring. It felt like things had never changed between them; it felt like he had never tried to strangle her. At the memory of him trying to strangle her, her heart sank a little.

Aiden was the first to break the kiss. "I'd apologize for kissing you, but I'm not sorry," he said.

Hope pushed some hair behind her ear and looked nervously around. Thankfully, no one seemed to be paying any attention to them. She looked at her phone. Rafe had been trying to call her. "I have a boyfriend," she said lamely before looking up at Aiden. She didn't know what else to say.

Aiden nodded. "I know you do. I'll try to respect that for now, but I know you kissed me back. Now I can never give up on you. I love you, Hope. I never stopped."

"Aiden…" Hope was tired—far too tired for this conversation.

Aiden took her hands in his. "I'm not giving up on our love, Hope. I know that sooner or later you're going to realize that you love me too, and you won't be able to deny it any longer." He kissed her hands. "Until then, I'll wait for you." He kissed her cheek. "Happy New Year, Hope."

Hope was jaded as she said, "Happy New Year, Aiden."

Aiden then left.

Hope sighed.

Suddenly, Rafe came over to her. "Hey! I am so sorry I broke my promise and didn't show up! It turned out to be more than one drunk, and that is why Lani needed my help. Their blood-alcohol levels was sky high. I had to help her take them to the station and book them."

Hope was a little out of it. She pushed some hair behind her ear. "It's okay. Duty calls. Of course I understand. I have to. I'm a cop too." She smiled and winked at him.

"I tried to call you, but you didn't pick up," Rafe said.

"Did you? Oh. Sorry. I didn't hear it with all the noise from the crowd," Hope lied. "I forgot to put it on vibrate."

Rafe then kissed her passionately on the lips. "Sorry that was late."

"But worth the wait," Hope said with a smile.

Rafe smiled too, and they kissed again.

Hope imagined kissing Aiden again, and broke the kiss.

"What's wrong?" Rafe asked.

Hope shook her head. "Nothing. It's just been a long night. I'm getting old." She grinned. "I want to get to bed and go to sleep already."

Rafe laughed. "All right. Let's go find Ciara so I can drop you guys back home. I'm sorry tonight was ruined."

"It wasn't. We had a good time before you left," Hope assured him.

Ciara and Theo came over then, saving them the trouble of finding Ciara.

"We're gonna go now, Ciara. I'm tired and want to get to bed," Hope said to her.

Ciara rolled her eyes. "Old people." She turned to Theo. "Sorry I had to wear this lame outfit tonight. I had a really killer dress, but mom thought it was too inappropriate for me to wear." She rolled her eyes.

Theo kissed her cheek. "I like the outfit you're wearing. I think you look beautiful, Ciara. You're beautiful no matter what you wear."

Ciara looked touched. "Aw!" She kissed him on the cheek and hugged him.

Hope smiled. "See? You didn't need that inappropriate dress."

"Whatever," Ciara muttered. "He would have loved that dress even more than this lame outfit."

Hope ignored her as she felt her thoughts drifting to Aiden enjoying her own outfit. Then her thoughts moved onto her kiss with Aiden. It was wrong. She knew it was.

 _Then why is your heart racing?_ The little voice inside her head asked.

She chose to ignore the question.

*This love came back to me.*

After his farewell with Hope, Aiden had gone to find Chase and tell him goodnight. Then, once he was back at the Inn ready for bed and lying on his bed, he thought about what had happened at the party. He had gotten what he wanted tonight. He knew that it was only a matter of time before Hope would be his again. It may take some time, he knew, but she was worth the wait.


	14. S1E14

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 1 Episode 14:_**

It was the morning of the tenth of January. It happened to be Hope's birthday. Aiden had bought her the perfect gift. It was a silver heart locket that had a fleur-de-lis engraved on the front. He knew how much she loved that symbol. Inside, he had put a picture of Ciara on one side, and a picture of Chase on the other. He had her initials engraved on the back. He wanted to give it to her, but he knew that no doubt Rafe would be stuck to her like a fly on flypaper most, if not all of the day.

He knew he would have to enlist Chase to help him again, so he quickly texted Chase.

 _Please text me after school when it's a good time to get Hope alone away from Eyebrows._

He pressed send, and got a text back a brief moment later.

 _Haha! Now I got you calling him that! I will._

Aiden smiled, then texted back.

 _Thanks!_ _J_

He then left for his community service, making sure he had his phone with him. He just hoped Chase didn't text him within the next four hours. After all, as much as he would like to, he couldn't leave his community service just to go give Hope a gift.

*This love came back to me.*

Chase and Ciara surprised Hope with breakfast in bed before school.

Hope smiled when she awoke to her children yelling "Happy Birthday!" Normally being woken up by shouting would annoy her very much so, but in this case it warmed her heart.

"I hope you're hungry," Chase said with a smile. "We made you scrambled eggs, buttered toast, bacon, Eggo waffles, and a yogurt parfait with grape juice to drink."

"We were going to make you pancakes, but Chase spilled the batter all over the floor, so frozen waffles it is," Ciara said, rolling her eyes.

"Only because I tripped over you high-heels. Seriously, who leaves their high-heels I the kitchen?" Chase asked; annoyed.

Ciara rolled her eyes again. "Like you never leave your stuff lying around."

"At least when I do, it's at a place it makes sense for it to be!" Chase snapped.

Ciara made a face and a mocking noise at him.

Chase made the face and noise right back at her.

Hope cleared her throat. "Let's not ruin my birthday breakfast by you arguing," she said.

Chase and Ciara both blushed and apologized.

"That's better," Hope said. "Waffles are fine." She poured the syrup on them, for they had put the bottle on the tray. She then took a bite of the waffles. "Mm. Delicious! Way better than pancakes."

"Right," Ciara said; not believing her.

Hope shook her head. "No, really, they're good! Thank you. Aren't you guys going to eat?"

"We ate before we brought your food up. We wanted to let you sleep in a bit," Chase replied.

"You guys are sweet. Thank you." Hope took a sip of her juice.

"Before we go to school, we went in on a gift for you," Ciara said. I'll be right back." She headed out the door and grabbed the big present they had set right outside of Hope's bedroom door. She came back in with it and handed it to Hope.

"Wow, this is a huge box!" Hope said with a grin. She set her tray of food down beside her for the moment, then took her gift from Ciara.

"It's two things actually. We just wanted to put them into one big box because they go together," Ciara explained.

"I wonder what it is!" Hope said with her eyebrows raised and a grin on her face.

"Open it up and find out!" Chase said; grinning back.

So Hope opened her gift. She smiled, when she saw what it was, and put her hand over her mouth. "Ice skates? And what's this?" She took out a purple piece of cloth and held it out. She realized it was a purple ice skating outfit.

Chase nodded at it. "Ciara said you used to love to ice skate, so we figured that, since it's winter, it would be a perfect time for you to get back into it. Plus, we couldn't think of anything else to get you."

Ciara gently elbowed Chase. "I never got to see you ice skate. I think it would be cool. Maybe you could even teach me and Chase how to skate."

Chase held his hands up. "I'm good. I'd probably just fall flat on my face given my klutziness."

Ciara smirked. "That I'd like to see."

Chase made a face at her.

Hope smirked. "Be nice, you two. I love it! You even got the right size in both the skates and the outfit. It _would_ be kind of fun to start up skating again as a little hobby. Come here." She held out her arms.

Both kids walked over to her and hugged her tightly in return as she hugged them.

Hope released them. "Thank you both so much for the thoughtful gift. I'd love to teach you, Ciara. Chase, you're right. You'd probably hurt yourself. You can just watch."

Chase nodded his agreement.

"But right now, you both need to get to school! You're going to be late if you don't hurry," Hope continued.

"All right, all right." Ciara took the gifts and set them on the floor, then took the tray and set it back over her mother's lap. "I'll let you get back to your breakfast before it gets cold." She then kissed Hope's cheek. "I love you. Happy Birthday."

"I love you too, Baby." Hope said, stroking Ciara's hair and kissing her cheek in return. "And thank you. For everything." She looked at Chase. "You too, Mister!" She motioned with her finger for Chase to come back over to her.

He walked over to her and she kissed his cheek loudly.

He kissed her cheek in return. "I love you, Mom. Happy Birthday."

Hope had tears of happiness in her eyes as she watched her children leave. She must have done something right in raising them, she knew. As did Aiden with Chase.

She sighed at that last thought, and went back to eating her breakfast.

*This love came back to me.*

Everyone at the precinct had thrown Hope a little surprise birthday party. Complete with a banner, sub sandwiches, chips, sodas, cake, and gifts. It had been a fun time and a fun little break from fighting crime even though it was just a brief lunchtime celebration.

"Thank you all for everything," Hope said once her shift was almost over. I love all my gifts, and the food was delicious! I was definitely surprised!" Hope wrapped an arm around Rafe. "Rafe definitely kept the secret from me!"

"Well, good! I threatened to kick him off the force if he told," Roman joked.

They all laughed.

"Anyway, I felt bad making you work on your birthday, so I figured, what better wat to make it up to you than by throwing you a surprise party?" Roman said.

Hope hugged him. "It was perfect. Thank you."

"Feel free to cut out a little early. I know Rafe has something special planned for your birthday. Go ahead and get an early start at getting ready for it," Roman said.

Hope grinned. "Really? I'd appreciate it. I can always use extra time to get ready."

Roman nodded. "Go for it. But first I would like to announce that the day before Valentine's Day we will be having a policeman's/police woman's gala. There will be dinner as well as dancing. Also, there will be our main event which will be an auction, auctioning off ourselves to the public. All proceeds will go to the St. Jude foundation. The higher ups have been on my case about our precinct never doing anything for charity, so here it is. The public will buy dates with us police men and woman, and then they will go on said dates with us the next night. Participation isn't mandatory, but it will be much appreciated. Also, as my little bribe to you for participating, it will get you extra time off."

"But won't it be Valentine's Day that we go on the dates?" Hope asked.

Roman nodded. "But I don't think giving up one Valentine's Day is too much to ask from children with cancer, do you?"

"Why Valentine's Day of all days?" Rafe asked.

"It will make more people want to bid knowing that they can have a date on Valentine's Day, with a policeman or woman nonetheless," Roman replied. "Some of the officers from the Springfield department will be auctioned off as well."

Hope nodded. "Count me in. I'm all for helping children with cancer."

Rafe raised an eyebrow at her. "Really?"

Hope nodded. "We can celebrate later that night." She pat his chest. "Come on. It's for children with cancer." She pouted her lips and bat her eyelashes. "Don't you want to help them?"

He sighed. "Ah, why not? You know I can never say no to you."

She grinned at him, and kissed his cheek.

"Excellent! I will be auctioning myself off as well," Roman said. He turned to Hope. "You are dismissed for the day."

"Thank you!" Hope said. She turned to Rafe. "So, I'll see you tonight at six then?"

"On the dot," Rafe said.

They kissed.

"See you then. I can't wait," she said with a smile as she pat his chest. She then grabbed her coat, and headed out the door. She looked at her watch. She had an hour and forty-five minutes to get ready. It would give her plenty of time.

*This love came back to me.*

When Hope arrived home, she realized she still had an hour and a half until Rafe was to be there. She had already taken her shower before work, and really didn't need an hour and a half to get ready.

She looked over at her new ice skating outfit and ice skates and smiled. There was a frozen pond in the park that she could drive too. Hardly anyone ever skated on it anymore since the new ice skating rink opened up. She hadn't skated in years, and if she ended up falling on her butt because of being so rusty, so one would see her fall, and she could spare herself the embarrassment.

With a grin, she grabbed her outfit and headed into the bathroom to change into it. When she was done, she came out of the bathroom and examined herself in the full-length mirror. She still looked hot if she did say so herself!

She grabbed her ice skates and headed down the stairs.

Chase and Ciara were about to leave for their Friday night pizza and a movie, where they would be meeting up with with Claire, Theo, Joey, and Joey's new girlfriend Marsha, but they both stopped and stared when they saw Hope in her skating outfit.

"Wow, Mom, you look hot!" Ciara said.

"No, she looks cool; not hot. It's winter; not summer!" Chase joked.

Ciara shot him an unamused look. "Lame."

"You're lame," Chase muttered.

Ciara ignored him, and turned her attention back to her smiling mother. "Are you going skating?"

"No, she thought she'd go on her date with Rafe wearing an ice skating outfit and skates!" Chase said sarcastically.

Ciara punched his arm.

Chase winced and rubbed his arm, but didn't say anything. Apparently, he didn't want to give Ciara the satisfaction that she had hurt him.

"Ciara, don't punch your brother." Hope scolded. "Yes, I'm going to the pond in the park for a quick skate before dinner. Are you guys headed out to pizza?"

Ciara nodded. "Then we're going to see the new _Friday the 13_ _th_ reboot."

Hope shuttered. "I don't know how you kids can stand watching those horror movies. They give me nightmares! Well, have a fun time. You'll be back by eleven, right?"

Ciara rolled her eyes. "Ugh! Yes, Mom. Having a curfew at seventeen is so annoying."

"Well, it's what allows you to go out at all, so take it or leave it," Hope said.

"See you at eleven," Ciara grumbled, then leaving with Chase.

Hope smirked. "I thought so."

*This love came back to me.*

Since it was a Friday night, Aiden knew that Chase would be headed out to for the night with his sister and friends. However, before Chase had left, Chase had texted him that Hope was alone at the park's pond. Her date with Rafe wasn't until six.

So now, here Aiden was in the park, headed toward the pond. He hoped it was where he thought it was. It was too cold to wander around aimlessly looking for the pond.

Thankfully, he found it. When he arrived, he saw Hope skating. He walked over to the pond and stood there watching her.

She noticed him and instantly stopped skating. "Aiden, what are you doing here?" she asked in surprise. She pushed some hair behind her ear.

Aiden smiled. "Chase told me where you were. I wanted to drop by and give you a birthday gift."

"You didn't have to do that," Hope told him.

Aiden shrugged. "Why not? You gave _me_ a gift on _my_ birthday."

Hope nodded. "Yes, but it was also to help Chase out."

Aiden nodded. "Still… I want to. But first, show me a little bit more of your skating. You're really good!"

Hope smiled. "You really think so? I'm a little rusty. I haven't skated in years. Ciara and Chase gave me this outfit and new skates for my birthday today though, so I couldn't resist trying them out."

"You look breathtakingly beautiful as always," Aiden told her.

She blushed. "Thank you. Here's a little routine I made up years and years ago. I'm not sure if I even remember it all."

"Let me see!" Aiden said with a smile.

"All right," Hope said, smiling back. She then began to skate.

Aiden already found her beautiful obviously, but as he watched her skate like a graceful angel, she looked more beautiful to him than ever before.

Hope finished her routine, and did a graceful bow of thanks as Aiden clapped. "I remembered it all!" She said with a smile; proud of herself.

"You are amazing and beautiful. You're amazingly beautiful, and full of even more talent than I knew," Aiden said.

Hope blushed. "Thanks. It's the only talent I have."

"I wouldn't say that now," Aiden said suggestively with a raised eyebrow.

Hope blushed an even deeper crimson, and went to pick her coat up off the ground. She didn't know why she hadn't thought of putting it on the bench behind her instead of dropping in in the cold snow. Thankfully, the inside was still dry. "So, what did you bring me?" she asked.

Aiden handed her a small, silver velvet box. "Sorry it's not wrapped, but since it's in a case, I didn't think it needed to be."

She stared at it for a moment.

Aiden nodded at it. "Go ahead; take it. I want to give you this."

Hope smiled at him and took the gift. She flipped the lid open and gasped when she saw the locket. "It's beautiful," she breathed.

"Open it," Aiden ordered.

Hope ran her finger over the fleur-de-lis, then looked at Aiden and smiled. "You remembered I like fleur-de-lises."

Aiden nodded. "How could I not? Most all your jewelry consists of them, as does some of your home decor."

Still smiling, she opened the locket. "It's the kids! Aw, Aiden! This is so sweet! You really shouldn't have. It's too much money. You spent too much on me for Christmas too."

"Look on the back," Aiden ordered. "I can't return it. I guess you'll just have to keep it." He winked at her, a smile on his face.

She turned the locket over and saw her initials were engraved on the back.

She hugged Aiden. "Thank you. I love it!"

Aiden hugged her back. "Happy Birthday, Hope. I'm glad you like it."

They pulled away from each other.

"Would you like me to put it on you?" Aiden asked.

Hope nodded. "Please." She held her hair up, and Aiden put the necklace on her. She then dropped her hair, and looked down at her now locked-adorned neck. "It' so beautiful."

"Just like you are," Aiden said to her.

Hope smiled at him. She looked to Aiden like she wanted to kiss him, but he knew that could very well all be in his head.

"Well, I better be going," she said. "I don't want to be late for my dinner date. Thanks again for the beautiful gift."

"A beautiful gift for a beautiful woman. Do you have your boots?" Aiden asked, looking around for them.

Hope nodded. "They're in the car. I would have left my coat in the car too, but it's far too cold out here for that. Do you need a ride?"

"Thanks, but I'm good. The bus stop is not far from here, and it will be here shortly. Besides, you can't be late for your date, right?" It pained Aiden to bring up her date with Rafe.

Hope nodded. "Right," she said quietly.

He kissed her cheek. "I'll see you later."

"She you later," she said, still quietly.

Aiden then left.

Hope sighed as she watched him leave, then took off to get ready for her date with Rafe.

*This love came back to me.*

"You look beautiful!" Rafe said, kissing Hope as she opened the door.

She smiled at him. "Thanks! So do you." She winked. He was wearing khakis and dress shoes with a green gingham dress shirt. She played with the collar. "It's different from what you usually wear, but I like it!"

He grinned. "Good. I'm glad." He looked her up and down and she smiled and twirled around to let him see her at all angles.

"That dress is smoking hot on you!" He said, placing his hands over her waist.

She grinned. "Thank you!"

He nodded at her necklace. "I've never seen that before. Is it new?"

Hope looked down at her necklace and blushed. "Yes, it was a birthday gift."

"From who? I know no one at the station gave it to you, and you said the kids got you the ice skating stuff. Is it from your cousin Jen or from Kayla?" Rafe asked.

Hope ignored his question and opened the locket. "See? It has pictures of the kids in it."

Rafe looked at the locket. "Yeah, it's a real nice locket." He gently pulled it away from her neck to inspect it. "Look at that. It even has your initials engraved on the back. Between the fleur-de-lis engraved on the front and your initials engraved on the back, it looks like it must have been pricey."

Hope stepped back, clasping her necklace protectively. "I'm not sure how much it costs, but price means nothing to me when it comes to gifts. You know that."

Rafe shrugged. "It might mean nothing to you, but I'm sure it must have meant something to the person who gave that to you, whom I'm guessing is Aiden seeing as you're avoiding my question as to who gave it to you."

Hope was suddenly angry. "So what if it was Aiden? What of it? Can't a friend give another friend a gift? Can't a friend accept said gift from said friend?"

Rafe crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at her. "Oh, so now you two are friends? I told him to stay away from you!"

Hope gasped. "You can't tell me who I can and cannot hang out with, Rafe. You're my boyfriend; not my boss."

"I didn't tell you not to hang out with him; I told him not to hang out with you," Rafe argued.

"It's the same difference and you know it!" Hope snapped.

"I want you to give that necklace back. Tell him you can't accept it," Rafe ordered.

Hope laughed bitterly. "Excuse me? I know you didn't just order me to give this back."

"Do you really want to lead on the man who tried to kill you?" Rafe asked.

"Oh, get off it, Rafe! If I can get over it then so can you!" Hope snapped. "And I'm not leading anyone on. He is the father of my son. It is in both mine and Chase's best interest for Aiden and me to get along."

Rafe narrowed his eyes at Hope. "Yeah, well when Aiden tries to kill you again, you'll regret falling for his crap again like a gullible…"

Hope crossed her arms over her chest. "Go on, finish. I'm eager to hear what you were going to say. Like a gullible what? Hm?"

Rafe sighed. "All I'm saying is, you should learn from your past mistake of trusting him. And as for Chase, well, Chase isn't even your son! He's Aiden's. Now that Aiden is back, he's not your responsibility any longer."

Hope's eyes turned cold. "Get out."

"Excuse me?" Rafe asked in surprise.

"You heard me. I said, get out! I want you out of my house _now_. I'm not hungry anymore, and even if I were, I wouldn't want to eat with you." Hope opened the door and motioned out it. "Out! Now!"

Rafe rolled his eyes. "Fine. With pleasure! At least it saves me money by not having to pay for your meal!"

Hope pushed him the rest of the way out the door then slammed and locked the door. She let out an angry cry of frustration, then stormed up the stairs to take a warm bath to calm herself down.

*This love came back to me.*

Aiden heard a knock on his door and looked out the peephole. He saw it was Rafe. He smirked. He bet Rafe had seen the necklace and didn't like it.

He opened the door. "Why, Rafe, what a pleasant surprise! To what do I owe the pleasure?" he said, feigning friendliness.

Rafe narrowed his eyes at him. "Cut the bull crap, Aiden."

"Whatever do you mean?" Aiden asked, still feigning friendliness.

Rafe narrowed his eyes at him and grabbed him by the shirt. "I told you before to stay away from Hope! You didn't listen."

"You're not my boss when it comes to who I can and cannot hang out with," Aiden said calmly.

"You sound just like Hope," Rafe said coldly.

"She said that?" Aiden asked; unable to hide his smile.

"She may not be able to see through your little games, but I see through them. I'm warning you, Aiden. You stay the hell away from my girlfriend!" Rafe snapped pulling Aiden closer to him by the shirt.

"Or what, Detective Hernandez? Are you threatening me? Do I have to go to the station and file a report against you for police brutality?" Aiden was smug. He knew Rafe couldn't do a darn thing to him without getting in trouble with both the law and Hope.

Rafe roughly released Aiden's shirt, causing Aiden to stumble back just slightly.

"Trust me; you don't want to have to find out what!" Rafe snapped. He then left without another word to Aiden, and without looking back.

"Yeah, that's what I thought!" Aiden called after him. He then shut and locked his door; a smile on his face. He took it Hope didn't take too kindly Rafe telling her who she could and couldn't hang out with.

Aiden chuckled to himself. "Keep this up, Rafe, and you'll be doing my work for me. You'll be the key to your own undoing." Whistling a happy tune, he went back to making the TV dinner he had been starting before his unwelcomed visitor had showed up.

*This love came back to me.*

Hope's phone rang. She saw that it was Rafe calling. She picked up the phone. She had put a frozen pizza in the oven, and was waiting for it to finish cooking. She figured there was nothing wrong with hearing Rafe grovel while she waited for it. "What?"

"I'd say this in person but I wasn't sure you wanted me over there," Rafe began.

"Good choice to not come over," Hope said coldly.

Rafe sighed. "Hope, I was a jackass, and I'm sorry."

Hope wasn't ready to forgive him just yet. "You promised you would be civil to Aiden and you weren't."

"What? The little whiner called you and tattled on me about going to see him?"

Hope's mouth dropped open. "I was talking about not being civil about the necklace. You went to see him? Why?"

Rafe sighed. "It's not important. What is important is that I called to apologize. I'm an idiot sometimes. What can I say?"

Hope smirked, an eyebrow raised. "Sometimes?"

"Hey. I'm trying to apologize here," Rafe said playfully.

"Keep going," Hope replied; intrigued.

"What I said about Chase was way out of line," Rafe began.

"You're right; it was. You know blood means nothing. Is Sonny not a father to Arianna?" Hope asked.

"Good point. Of course blood means nothing. I love Chase. He is a great kid. I guess I just got jealous of you and Aiden sharing a child," Rafe admitted.

"You need to stop being jealous about all things Aiden. I am a grown woman and I can pick my own friends. I will not tolerate being told who I may and may not be friends with or what gifts I can and cannot accept. Aiden is my friend and the father of my son. That is all there is to it. I'm dating _you_ —not Aiden—and we both know I don't do things I don't want to do, nor do I _not_ do things I want to do. If I didn't want to be with you, I wouldn't be. If I'd rather be with Aiden, I would be. I'm not with Aiden; I'm with you," Hope scolded.

"Duly noted," Rafe said. "And I promise that from now on, I won't say any more about Aiden. I will trust you to hang out with whomever you want to hang out with—Aiden included."

"And you'll be nice to him if we ever run into him?" Hope asked, an eyebrow raised again.

Rafe sighed. "For you, yes. I will be civil to him. I promise this time."

"All right," Hope agreed."

"So, you forgive me?" Rafe asked.

Hope nodded even though she knew he couldn't see her. "Yes. But it's late and I'm tired, so let's still forget the whole birthday dinner thing. I'll just talk to you tomorrow. All right?"

Rafe sounded disappointed, but agreed. "Fair enough. I love you."

"I love you too. See you tomorrow. Goodnight," Hope said.

"Goodnight," Rafe said before hanging up.

Hope sighed as she clicked off her phone. "Sorry, Rafe, but I still need the rest of tonight to finish cooling off," she said before heading into the kitchen to collect her pizza.


	15. S1E15

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 1 Episode 15:_**

Hope got to work before Rafe arrived. As she headed into the precinct, she heard Lani talking with Roman.

"Commissioner Brady, would it be alright if, instead of being bid on, I be a bidder instead?" Lani asked in reference to the police gala.

Roman hesitated. "That's an unusual request, but since participation isn't mandatory, I don't see why not."

"I promise to donate money either way regardless on whether or not I win the bid," Lani stated.

Roman nodded. "That would be greatly appreciated! Thank you."

Lani smiled. "Thank _you_!"

"If you don't mind me asking, who exactly is it that you would be bidding on?" Roman asked.

Lani glanced at Hope, and then back at Roman. "You never know. Some of those Springfield officers might be cute." She grinned.

Hope smirked, and headed into her office. She knew darn well that Lani was hoping to bid on Rafe. It was a harmless crush. She wasn't worried about it and saw no harm in letting Lani live out her fantasy for the evening. She knew that Rafe would never let it go any further than that. Hope actually found Lani's crush on Rafe kind of cute.

She took off her coat and hung it on the coat hanger, then dropped into her desk chair with a sigh. She wondered who would bid on her. She was a little weary of opening this thing to the public. There was no telling what kind of sleaze might bid on her. She was glad she was a cop and trained to take down any shady person who tries to hurt her.

Her mind quickly flashed to the night Aiden had tried to kill her. She shivered despite the heat being up to 80 in the precinct. Roman liked to be warm as warm could be at all times.

"I was just caught off guard; that's all. I didn't have my full wits about me," she muttered to herself. "I could have taken him on if I was prepared. Who would have thought my husband was going to try to kill me—on my wedding night at that?" Well, she would be prepared from now on. She wasn't about to let herself be attacked again—not from Aiden, a potential bidder, or anyone else! Not that she had to worry about Aiden anymore, she knew.

She sighed again. She wished she could wipe out the night Aiden attacked her from her mind and keep it gone. She had forgiven him, yes, but that night still haunted her even though it had been over a year ago.

She looked at the clock then pulled out some paperwork. She had a parent-teacher conference to get to on her lunchbreak. That left her an hour to do the paperwork and case filing she had to do before going out on the streets to patrolling with Rafe until it was time for the conference.

Her heart sank a little at the thought of patrolling with Rafe. She was still angry with him. She didn't know why. He had sincerely apologized. Even so, she still felt rubbed the wrong way. She hoped that feeling would dispel by the time Rafe arrived at work.

*This love came back to me.*

"I really am sorry, you know. About last night, and about everything I said. It was stupid. I trust you, and if you want to keep the locket, then I know there's no stopping you," Rafe said as they patrolled around.

"You're damn right it's not!" Hope said a little colder than she had meant to.

Rafe wasn't giving up. "For what it's worth, it's a really nice locket. I'm sorry I overreacted. I also couldn't be sorrier for the things I said about Chase. I know he is your son. He is a wonderful kid and Aiden did a great job raising him."

Hope felt her anger melt away a little, and she smiled at Rafe. "I accept your apology. Bonus points for the compliments to Aiden."

Rafe grinned. "I don't think I can ever forgive him for what he did to you, but I do understand he thought he had no other way. Chase is an incredible kid, and if I were Aiden, a threat to his life would have driven me insane too. I would have handled it better than Aiden did, and I most certainly never would have tried to kill you, but—"

Hope cut him off. "You know what? I don't want to talk about that night. Anyway, you don't need to go all overkill on the Aiden complimenting. I know you don't like him. You don't have to compliment him left and right when I know you don't mean any of it. I forgive you. All I ask is that you stop being so over protective of me, and more civil to Aiden."

Rafe nodded. "Done! But I did mean what I said when I said he raised Chase right. Chase is a good kid. I'm glad he has his father back in his life. I know how important that is."

Hope smiled at him. "I'm glad you and Eduardo are finally starting to heal your relationship."

Rafe smiled back at her. "Me too. I never thought I'd be saying this, but I'm glad to have my dad back. It feels really good to be part of a family again. Between my dad coming back, then my brother, then my mother… Then of course there's Gabi and little Ariana." Rafe looked a little sad. "My sister Arianna would have been thrilled to have the whole family together."

"You miss her terribly, don't you?" Hope asked, taking his hand that wasn't on the wheel.

Rafe nodded. "Every day of my life. There's not a day that goes by that I don't wish for her to be alive again. You know, if I could have, I would have taken her place in a heartbeat."

"I know you would have," Hope said in almost a whisper. "Well, I'm glad you didn't, because if you did, you and I would never have become a couple."

Rafe smiled big at her then put his eyes back on the road. "Very true!"

*This love came back to me.*

When Hope arrived at the school, she went straight to the waiting room for the principal's office. The principal's office was where the meeting was. There were different scheduled times and days for each student in that particular class, so no one else was in the room other than Aiden.

"Hey. You're here for Chase I take it?" Hope asked.

Aiden nodded. "I think their principal is talking to us about Chase and Ciara at the same time since they are siblings and you are the mother to both."

Hope nodded as well. "Makes sense."

Aiden smiled. "I see you're wearing the locket I gave you."

Hope looked down at her neck, and then at Aiden. "Yes! The kids loved it. They thought it was so cool."

"I'm sorry if I got you in trouble with Rafe last night," Aiden apologized. "He came over to my apartment so angry that I gave you it. I'm sorry if it was too inappropriate of a gift for me to give you."

Hope shook her head. "It was more like _he_ got in trouble with _me_ for complaining about it. He has no right to tell me what I can and cannot accept. I'm sorry he came over and harassed you. Did he say anything else to you?"

"Just that I was to stay away from you," Aiden admitted.

"Yeah, well, don't worry about him. I had a long talk with him about it. He won't be bothering you any longer." Hope shook her head. "Gosh, I can't believe him! He came over to your house? How does he even know where you live?"

Aiden shrugged. "He's a cop and a former FBI agent. I imagine he has his ways."

Before Hope could respond to that, the principal came in.

"Sorry I'm late. Unfortunately, a woman's time of month doesn't wait for meetings to be over." She then blushed when she remembered Aiden was there. "I'm sorry. I'm so used to telling it like it is. I didn't meant to go all TMI on you," the principal said with a laugh.

Aiden blushed, and laughed gently. "It's okay."

"Please, follow me into my office." The principal led the way. "Take a seat." She motioned to the two chairs in front of her desk. She then shut the door before sitting down at her desk. "I've talked with all of Chase's and Ciara's teachers and have gotten reports from them. It's a new way the school is doing parent-teacher conferences this year. It's quicker than having the parents talking to every teacher their child has," she explained.

Hope and Aiden both nodded their understanding.

"So, you two must be Chase and Ciara's parents. Correct?" The principal extended her hand to them. "I'm Principal Frank but you can call me Tracy."

Hope and Aiden glanced at each other, then took turns shaking her hand.

"No, actually, Chase is my son, and Ciara is her daughter. Chase lives with her because we used to be married. It's a long story," Aiden said.

"So, you're divorced and he chose to live with his stepmom," Tracy said as more of a statement than a question.

"Something like that," Hope muttered.

"I have a small place. Hope's place is much bigger and more suited for teens," Aiden explained.

Tracy nodded. "I see. Sorry. I don't mean to pry. I just like to know the living situations of my students."

"It's all right! It's perfectly understandable," Aiden assured her.

Hope nodded her agreement.

"Anyway, Ciara's grades are vastly improved lately. She has mainly As a few Bs and only one C. Her behavior in class is exceptional. She needs a little help in science hence the C, but other than that, she is an excellent student!" Tracy said to Hope.

Hope smiled. "I'm glad to hear it. Her boyfriend Theo is good in science, so maybe he could tutor her."

Tracy smirked. "I know Theo. He is a sweet kid, but Theo being in the same chemistry class with Ciara is what is distracting her. I think it might be best to put her in a different science class than Theo."

Hope nodded. "Whatever it takes to keep her grades up."

"I'll need your approval of course, before I move her. She will be in Mr. Davis' class. He is a really good teacher and I think his teaching will do Ciara some good. His teaching is a bit easier to understand that Mrs. Ray's is," Tracy replied.

Hope nodded. "Ciara may not be thrilled with me for this, but go ahead and switch her. Anything to get her grades up."

"Perfect!" Tracy said, placing her hands together; pleased. She turned to Aiden. Chase is a wonderful boy. He's seems so much happier than he was at the beginning of the year. However, his grades are just mediocre. He's running on a C average with some Bs in there. He isn't failing anything, so that's good."

"What does he struggle with?" Aiden asked.

"Math is his worse subject, but there are a lot of kids in his math class that are top notch at Math. I'm sure one of them would be happy to tutor him," Tracy explained.

"Is there any extra credit work he can do to raise his grades?" Aiden asked. "Also, is there anything that will help him look better on his college applications? A club, maybe? I'd say sports, but he's not very coordinated. How about Glee club?" Aiden grinned. "He's really good at singing." He nodded at Hope. "His mother finally got him to come out of his shell when it comes to singing. He loves country."

Hope smiled as she listened to Aiden animatedly brag their son up to the principal. He really was a good dad, and as Rafe had said, Aiden had raised him right. She felt her heart race a little as she watched Aiden grin happily as the principal said the Glee club just happened to be taking new club members, and that Chase was more than welcome to audition. Aiden sure was adorable when his dimples showed, she thought.

She blushed at her last thought, then shook her head. _Quit daydreaming, Brady! It's not what you're here for,_ she silently scolded herself. _Not to mention you have a boyfriend. Remember him?_

She cleared her throat then went back to listening to the teacher. She did her best to not look at Aiden for the rest of the conference.

*This love came back to me.*

"Well, I'd say that went well," Aiden said as they left the school. "I only hope that Chase will be out of his shell enough to join the Glee club. That can look good on college applications."

Hope nodded. "I'm sure he'll be open to it. I've awaken a passion in him." She smiled.

"That sounded sick," Aiden joked.

Hope playfully smacked him. "Shut up!" She laughed. "You know what I mean."

Aiden grinned. "Yes, I do. Hey, do you want to join me for lunch? It's one of my rare days off from community service."

Hope hesitated. She looked at her watch. "I only have a half hour before I need to get back to the station."

"We can do fast food. Come on. You must be hungry. You have to eat," Aiden gently nudged her.

Hope nodded. "All right. Can we do pizza? I'm kind of feeling pizza right now."

Aiden chuckled. "Sure. Pizza Man's in right down the street."

"Sounds good!" Hope agreed.

So, they headed to the pizza place, both in a happy mood.

*This love came back to me.*

"You know, for a thin woman, you can sure pack down the pizza slices," Aiden said as he watched with amazement as Hope ate her third slice. "And you're still so incredibly thin!"

Hope shrugged. "What can I say? I have a good metabolism. Being on the force also helps keep me in shape."

"I never thought I'd see the day where a woman could eat more than me! I'm full after one slice!" Aiden told her. "I can't even finish my second slice."

Hope shrugged. "You also had a garlic knot."

Aiden nodded. "True, but so did you." He watched as Hope continued scarfing down her pizza. He then placed his only half eaten second slice of pizza on his cheek. "Do you think Chase would let me borrow his acne cream? People are starting to call me pizza face."

Hope glanced up at him and shook her head. "You're as bad as the kids!"

Aiden put his pizza slice back down. "Not even a smile? What? Was my joke too cheesy for you?"

Hope laughed. "You're so stupid."

Aiden grinned. "I'm just attempting humor so I won't be seen as crusty!"

Hope laughed and nearly choked on her last bite of pizza. She took a sip of her soda. "Stop!" She laughed again.

"So, how is work going?" Aiden asked her.

"It's going all right. It's been kind of slow lately, but in my line of work that's a good thing." She took another bite of her pizza.

Aiden nodded. "Of course."

"We're having a police gala on the 13th. There will be a dinner and a date a police officer auction. Bidding is open to the public. Some of the officers in my precinct as well as some from the Springfield precinct are being auctioned off for a Valentine's Day date. Proceeds will go to the St. Jude's Foundation," Hope explained.

Aiden smirked. "Are _you_ going to be available for bidding?"

Hope nodded. "You betcha! As is Rafe." It sucks that Rafe and I won't be able to celebrate Valentine's Day together, but there's always _after_ the date. I just couldn't pass up helping sick children. You know?"

Aiden nodded. "Of course not. You're too good of a person. I may just have to make a bid on you." He winked at her.

She smiled. "At least it would be with someone I know. I'm worried some weirdo loser will bid on me and win."

"Well then I guess I better not bid," Aiden joked.

Hope smiled, and placed her and over his. "You're not a weirdo loser. I'd love to have a good friend win the date with me. But don't overdo it, all right? If the bid gets too high, don't bid."

Aiden smirked. " _Someone_ has a high opinion of herself, thinking the bid will get too high!"

Hope playfully smacked his arm. "You know what I mean!"

Aiden nodded. "I appreciate your concern. Don't worry. Work is picking up now. I can afford to bid as long as it doesn't go into some outrageous amount, which by the way, wouldn't surprise me given how beautiful and amazing you are." He kissed her hand from across the table.

She blushed. "Thank you," she said with a small smile.

She finished her last bite of pizza then stretched. "All right. I'm done! I think I've finally had my fill."

"With a garlic knot and three slices of pizza, I should hope so!" Aiden said.

Hope shrugged. "What can I say? Work and parent-teacher conferences make me work up an appetite!" She pat her stomach. She then glanced at her phone and sighed. "I guess I had better get back to work now." She stood up and put her coat back on.

Aiden stood up and put his coat back on as well. "Thank you for joining me for lunch."

Hope smiled at him. "Thank _you_! It was fun."

They left the pizza parlor. "Would you like a ride home?" Hope asked Aiden. She had left her car parked at the school.

Aiden shook his head. "Thanks, but I know you have to get back to work. My apartment's not far from here. I'll just walk. It's surprisingly not that cold out today. Plus, I need to walk off all that food I ate."

Hope rolled her eyes. "Yeah, one garlic roll, and one and a half slices of pizza—you pig," she teased.

Aiden grinned. "Now you're just getting saucy!"

Hope laughed and playfully smacked his shoulder. "You and your pizza puns."

Aiden grinned. "Well, have a good rest of your day." He hugged her.

She hugged him back. "Thanks you too." She released him. "I really did have fun today."

"Me too," Aiden agreed.

"Are you sure you don't want a ride home?" Hope asked.

Aiden nodded. "I'm positive."

"I'll see you later then. Have a good night!" Hope said.

"Thanks. You too," Aiden replied.

They then headed their separate ways, a smile on both their faces.

Meanwhile, Rafe watched from the shadows. He was just taking his lunch now, having gotten tied up at the station. He had thought Pizza Man's sounded good. Boy had he been surprised when he saw Hope and Aiden coming out of the pizza place together, all smiley and having a good time. When he saw their hug, it made his blood boil. He knew he couldn't confront Hope without starting another argument. He also knew better than to confront Aiden again. He knew Aiden would tell Hope and make it a million times more dramatic than it really was. He was a master manipulator.

Rafe sighed. He may not be able to confront them, he knew, but he was still going to keep an extra close watch on Aiden. If Aiden thought for a second that he was going to steal Hope from him, he was sadly mistaken.

He took out his phone and dialed up and old friend. Her name was Megan. They had been inseparable from grade school through high school, but then he had become a cop and she had gone down a completely different path, boozing it up, sleeping around, and doing other things he didn't care to know about. They had kept in touch here and there since.

One time, when they were both fifteen, Rafe had taken the blame when Megan had been driving drunk and crashed into her father's parked brand new sports car. Rafe had said he had been driving her car and had been paying attention to the radio and not where he was going, hence the crashed car. Her father had been livid and banned him from hanging out with Megan. Ironically enough, the old man had thought that Rafe was the bad influence. Megan had promised Rafe she would pay him back someday; that she owed him one. He and Megan had never hung out much anymore after that day, but he had still never forgotten her promise of owing him a favor.

"Rafey? Is that you?" she asked on the other end of the line.

Rafe grinned. "Meggie! You still have my number programed in your phone I see."

"Of course I do. We may not hang out anymore, and you may be a big shot cop while I'm still a boozer, but we're still friends aren't we? Please don't say you're too good for me now."

Rafe grinned. He had missed her strong Brooklyn accent. She had picked it up ever since moving to Brooklyn ten years earlier. "Of course I'm not too good for you, but I do want to finally cash in on that favor you owe me."

Rafe could hear Megan chewing gum on the other line. "Ah yes, the favor. It's taken you thirty years to collect! It must be big for you to finally cash in. What is it?"

Rafe hesitated. "It will involve lying to the police and setting someone up. Also, I'd have to fly you out to Salem. You'd have to stay here a few days so that you're here when I need you to put the plan into action."

"Ooh Rafey boy! Welcome to the dark side! This sounds fun! Why not? I wouldn't mind a free vacation to Salem for a few days—especially when I get to have a little fun in the process. So what do you need me to do? Do tell."

Rafe smiled. "I can't tell you now. Someone might hear. After work tonight, when I'm back at my place and alone, I'll book your flight, and then call you."

"Sounds like a plan. It's good hearing from you again Rafey," Megan said. "Don't be a stranger, all right?"

"It's good hearing from you too, Meggie. I'll call you tonight." Rafe smiled as he clicked off his phone. He then headed into the pizza place to get some lunch. He was suddenly in a much better mood.


	16. S1E16

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 **** ** _Season 1 Episode 16:_**

The weeks flew by, and soon it was already the night of the police gala. Hope had finished getting ready and Rafe had just come over to pick her up.

"You look ravishing as usual. You know, I really hate that I'll have to share you tomorrow—on Valentine's Day at that!" Rafe said as he pulled Hope closer by the waist. She was wearing a beautiful strappy red dress that had crisscrossing over her collarbone.

"I hate sharing you too, but the dates are only going to be for a couple hours, then we can celebrate just the two of us. Anyway, it's for a good cause. Doesn't it make you feel good doing something to help children with cancer?" Hope asked, straightening his black bowtie.

Rafe nodded. "Yeah, it does. I wonder who will bid on me."

Hope smirked. "I have a feeling it will be Lani. You know she adores you. You're the whole reason she wanted to be a bidder instead of being bid on. You should have seen the look on her face when Roman asked her who she wanted to bid on. Her cheeks got all flushed, and she glanced at me before muttering something to him about the Springfield cops possibly being cute."

Rafe grinned. "She's a beautiful, sweet girl, but she's she no you." He kissed her cheek. "Still, I'm willing to put up with her crush on me for the night if it means not having to go out on a date with a rich old bat who tries to get me in the sack for one last thrill of her life."

Hope laughed. "That is a very disgusting thought!"

"No kidding!" Rafe said. "Seriously, I don't know how those Playboy bunnies sleep with that old coot Hugh Hefner! No money in the world is worth sleeping with an old wrinkled and withered—"

Hope shut him up with a hand over his mouth. "All right, let's not make us both ill. But seriously, one day you'll be that old, as will I." She raised an eyebrow. "Will you think of _me_ as that repulsive once I'm wrinkled and withered?"

"Obviously not. I'm still with you, aren't I?" Rafe deadpanned.

Hope gasped and smacked his shoulder. "You're lucky I know you're kidding. Otherwise, I'd make you pay for that remark."

Rafe pulled her close and kissed her softly on the lips. "You will never be old and withered to me even when you are."

Hope grinned at him. "Likewise."

"I'm never going to be old and withered," Rafe said, sounding serious even though he wasn't.

Hope laughed. "I'm going to remind you of that in fifteen years or so." She grabbed her coat.

Rafe helped her put her coat on. "I'm serious! You'll see. I'll still look amazing in fifteen years as I do now." He put his own coat on.

"We'll see," Hope said as they headed out the door.

Rafe smile. "I'm just glad you still plan on being with me in fifteen years."

"Of course I do! There's no one else I'd rather be with in fifteen years than you," Hope said, putting her arm around his waist.

"Aw!" Rafe said.

They kissed.

Hope smiled, but even as she was smiling, thoughts of Aiden's smiling face filled her mind.

She shook his face from her mind and rested her head on Rafe's shoulder as they walked to the car.

*This love came back to me.*

Aiden sat at the police gala looking at Hope with love in his eyes. She was eating dinner with Rafe, smiling and laughing with him. Though, she didn't seem to be as happy as she had been with him at the pizza place a few weeks ago, he noted.

Hope and Rafe were sitting with two cops he didn't recognize, whom Aiden guessed must have been some of the Springfield cops. Abe and Roman were also there, as was Ramirez, Lani, JJ, and Mindy Paxton, the new woman cop that just transferred to their precinct from Alabama. Mindy was a beautiful blonde with a great body. She was also tough, but at the same time sweet as could be. He'd seen her at the office a few times. He was sure all the guys would be bidding on her.

 _Good!_ He thought to himself. _The less men that bid on Hope, the more of a chance I have of winning the date with her._

Mindy was beautiful, yes, but the truth was, with Hope in the picture, Mindy didn't even exist to him. In fact, no other woman did. He only had eyes for Hope.

He went back to eating his meal, hoping the bidding would happen soon. He didn't know anyone at his table, and being more of an introvert, he felt kind of awkward. He was sure they all must know who he was and what he had done last year. He was just grateful no one was talking to him, or telling him what a horrible person he was.

He planned on bidding on Hope, winning the bid, talking to Hope, and then ditching out so that he didn't have to see her walk out on Rafe's arm.

 _At least tomorrow, if all goes well, she'll be walking out with me,_ he thought with a smile.

*This love came back to me.*

"Chase, come on stop zoning! The sooner you get this, the sooner we can go eat," Claire scolded. They were back at her place going over their history notes for a test they had coming up.

"Hm?" Chase asked, looking at her blankly. He had no idea what she had just asked him.

Claire groaned; annoyed. "What was the name of Italy's fascist dictator during WWII?"

Chase shrugged. "How the heck should I know? Who cares anyway? We're in America; not Italy."

Claire rolled her eyes. "We are studying _World_ History—world as in more than just America. Anyway, Mrs. Cleary went over this like fifty times."

Chase sighed. "I'm sorry, Claire. I'm stupid when it comes to history."

"You're not stupid. You just seem to have your mind occupied elsewhere. For the record, the answer is Benito Mussolini. You may want to write that down." She nodded at his notebook.

Chase wrote it down.

"You spelled Mussolini wrong. Here." He took her pen and wrote down the name on his notebook for him. She then sighed. "What's on your mind?"

Chase grinned. "My dad is bidding on Hope tonight at the Police Gala. He never stopped loving her, you know."

"But she's dating Rafe," Claire reminded him.

Chase shrugged. "For now. She doesn't really love Rafe—not like she loves my dad. Because of Andre messing with his mind, my dad almost lost Hope. Well, he's not going to this time—especially not to a loser like Rafe. Rafe keeps telling my dad to stay away from Hope."

Claire scrunched her eyebrows. "Really?"

Chase nodded. "He even came over to my dad's apartment and threatened him last month."

"That's crazy! I thought he was like this great, law-abiding cop!" Claire said in surprise.

Chase laughed. "Are you kidding? He breaks the law all the time! He covers for his family, friends, and any woman that he sets his sights on. He's not a good cop in my opinion. Anyway, he has no chance now that my dad's in the picture. My dad is Hope's soulmate. They will find their way back to each other, and this gala thing will be a good start. After all, a gala is when they first fell in love to begin with."

"Are you sure Hope feels the same way about your dad as he feels about her?" Claire asked.

Chase nodded. "Oh definitely! She is always so much happier with him. She laughs more too. In fact, I'll be you that, by this time next year if not sooner, they'll be married."

Claire smirked. "I don't make bets, but we shall see. Now, just answer this one question right then we can go take a break from studying and get some Chinese for dinner. In what year did the Japanese attack the United States at Pearl Harbor?"

Chase thought about it for a moment. "I wanna say 1941?"

Claire clapped her hands and grinned. "Yes!"

Chase grinned. "I remember it because it's the year my paternal grandmother was born."

"Well, thanks to your grandmother being born the same year as Pearl Harbor because now we can go eat since you got that right! I don't know about you, but I'm starved," Claire said.

Chase nodded. "Me too." As they prepared to leave, Chase looked at his phone. Aiden was supposed to text him after the bidding, but there was no text yet. He hoped it was only because Hope hadn't been up for bid yet.

*This love came back to me.*

Meanwhile, Theo and Ciara had already had dinner and were eating frozen yogurt at a new frozen yogurt place that had opened up in the square.

"My mom has been so happy lately with Rafe! I just know they are going to be long-term. I'm glad she can finally have happiness again after what Aiden did to her, and then losing my Dad. Rafe is so good for her!" Ciara cooed.

"Chase wants his dad with your mom. He says his dad has changed, and only did what he did to protect her," Theo stated.

Ciara nodded. "That's what Aiden says, but I still don't trust the guy. Anyway, he lost his chance. It wouldn't surprise me if Rafe proposes to her soon. I'd be all for it! Chase would get over it."

"Well, I'll be happy if Rafe proposes to your mom because it will make _you_ happy," Theo said.

Ciara smiled. "You always know just the right things to say to me. It's one of the main things I love about you."

Theo grinned big. "You love me?"

Ciara nodded. "Of course!"

"Good because I love you too," Theo told her.

Ciara got up out of her chair and kissed his cheek.

Theo pulled her down onto his lap, and she laughed.

They then kissed sweetly on the lips before going back to eating their ice cream. Ciara ate the rest of hers while still sitting on his lap; not caring if they looked silly.

*This love came back to me.*

Aiden waited impatiently as the bidding went on. They had done the bidding on the Springfield cops first. The highest bid so far had been $1,000. It was steep, but if Hope went for that amount, Aiden would pay in in a heartbeat. Of course, the $1,000 had been for a rookie cop named Gabe who was such a good looking young cop that if Aiden swung that way, and if Hope didn't exist, he'd have bid on the dude himself! The ladies had practically scratched each other's eyeballs out to win him. He had gone to a woman with a fur coat who was beautiful, but looked to be at least ten years his senior. Gabe didn't seem to mind.

Right now, Eduardo Ramirez was clowning it up and flexing his impressive muscles, making a lot of the ladies in the room hoot and holler for him. The guy had even chosen to wear a muscle shirt even though it was a formal dinner.

Aiden couldn't help but smile. This Eduardo Ramirez was a lot more fun than Rafe's annoying father. Though, he supposed Rafe's father was more tolerable than Rafe was. Then again, who wasn't?

Eduardo Ramirez went for five hundred dollars.

Mindy was up next. Aiden had been right. All the men were bidding left and right for her. She went up to $2,000!

Aiden swallowed hard. He hoped Hope didn't go up to that much. He still had money left from the lottery, and his job was doing well, but he didn't want to push things. He would if he absolutely had to, but he hoped it didn't get that high.

"Two thousand dollars going once, going twice…" Abe, who was the MC called out.

"Three thousand dollars!"

Everyone looked to see a pretty brunette holding up her hand.

Mindy was smiling hugely at the woman.

"Three thousand dollars going once… Going twice… Sold to the pretty brunette over there!" Abe called out.

The brunette and Mindy both let out squeals of joy, then they ran to each other, embraced, and kissed.

"Jenny! I was so worried you wouldn't make it, Dumpling!" Mindy said.

"Honey Bun, like I'd ever let some other chick or some dude go out with my lady!" the brunette who's name apparently was Jenny said.

They embraced and kissed again.

"I didn't see that one coming," Aiden said; amused. All these guys had wanted Mandy so badly, and here she was, gay all along. Funny.

After what seemed like forever, the only ones left to bid on were Hope, Rafe, and Abe. Roman and Justin had both gone for three-hundred dollars apiece.

"All right. Up next is Rafe Hernandez. He's tall, dark, and handsome, and any girl will be very happy if they bid on him. He is an incredible cop," Abe bragged him up.

Aiden loudly coughed. No one else seemed to notice, but Rafe shot him a dirty look.

Aiden smirked.

"We'll start the bidding off at ten dollars," Abe said.

Lani was the first to bid. Random women bid until it got up to a hundred dollars.

"One-fifty!" Lani called out.

"One-fifty! Can I get two hundred?" Abe called out.

The room was silent. "Two hundred? Anyone?" Abe asked.

Still, there was silence. "All right then. "One-fifty going once… Going twice… Sold to Lani Carver!"

Aiden couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Rafe so far was the second lowest bid, second only to a Springfield cop who looked so young he surely must have been a rookie. Springfield Rookie was acne ridden with Buddy Holly glasses. Poor kid had only sold for fifty bucks to someone that Aiden was pretty sure was the kid's mother. Aiden felt bad. The guy wasn't going to make it as a cop. Aiden was surprised Springfield Rookie had made it this far—unless, he was stronger than he looked, but Aiden highly doubted that.

Finally, Hope Brady was up.

Aiden tuned Abe out as Abe went through all of Hope's many amazing qualities. Aiden knew them all and more. He bid the opening bid of ten dollars.

Of course there was a lot of back and forth between many eligible bidders. Aiden sat back until there was a calm in the bidding. It was up to five hundred dollars.

"Six hundred!" Aiden called out.

"Seven hundred!" A tall, handsome business looking man bid.

"Seven fifty!" Aiden bid.

"Eight hundred!" the man bid.

"Nine hundred!" Aiden called out.

"Nine hundred. Anyone care to outbid?" Abe asked, looking around the room.

"Nine hundred going once…"

Aiden held his breath. Come on. _Don't make me have to go higher._

"Nine hundred going twice."

 _Come on, Come on!_ Aiden silently ordered.

"Sold to Aiden Jennings for nine hundred dollars!" Abe said.

 _Yes!_ Aiden couldn't stop smiling. Hope was his. He noticed Abe looking concerned and whispering something to Hope. Aiden watched as Hope smiled at Abe and said something to him, which seemed to satisfy Abe.

"All right, now let's auction off this handsome specimen!" Roman said, referring to Abe.

"Five hundred dollars!" Maxine said, whipping out of her chair like lightning. She gave a warning look around the room. "And don't anyone dare bid any higher! I can only afford five hundred and I _need_ this man to be my date. I _will_ hunt you down if you outbid me."

Everyone remained quiet.

"Five hundred dollars going once. Going twice. Sold to Maxine!" Roman said.

Every one clapped.

Maxine nodded. "Yeah, that's what I thought!"

Abe blushed, but he was grinning big. It was obvious to Aiden that the crush was mutual.

"And that concludes our Gala. Thank you so much to everyone who bid. Commissioner Brady will be collecting the money up on stage. Thank you and goodnight!" Abe said to the crowd.

Everyone clapped their appreciation, and the gala was over.

With a smile, Aiden quickly texted Chase that he had won his bid on Hope. He then went off to pay his bid, then look for Hope. He was very eager to talk to her about their date tomorrow.

*This love came back to me.*

"I hate that Aiden won the bid on you. I thought he couldn't afford much!" Rafe grumbled.

"Please don't start;" Hope said. She was tired of hearing his complaints about Aiden.

"I'm sorry. I'm just surprised he could afford it is all," Rafe said. "I don't think you should go on the date with him. It might give him the wrong idea."

Hope rolled her eyes. "I'm going on this date. He paid for it fair and square. There's no need to worry. He knows where he stands. We're going as friends and friends only. As for how he can afford it, he still has money left over from the lottery, plus his work is going well."

"He shouldn't even be allowed to still practice law after what he did to you," Rafe said.

"Rafe…" Hope warned.

"I'm sorry, Hope. I trust you. I really do. I just find it hard trusting _him_." He nodded toward Aiden, who was coming toward them.

"Don't be silly! You have nothing to worry about," Hope tried to assure Rafe.

Aiden came over to them then. "I'm so glad I won!" he said to Hope; not even acknowledging Rafe.

"Yeah, well, I'm warning you now that there will be trouble if you cross the line with Hope!" Rafe snapped at Aiden.

"Rafe, I told you not to start!" Hope snapped.

Aiden shook his head. "Don't worry. I'm not going to cross any line that Hope doesn't want me to cross." He grinned smugly.

Rafe's eyes got wide, and he looked like he was going to pop a vein. However, before he could respond, Lani came over and latched onto his arm. "I'm so happy I won the bid!"

Rafe smiled at her. "Yeah, we'll have a lot of fun tomorrow, I'm sure."

Lani grinned; so excited and full of energy. "Come over to the table and we can talk about what to do tomorrow. I wanna make sure it's something with both like to do. And don't worry, I know this is just a friendly hangout even though it's called a date."

Rafe glanced from Hope to Aiden to back to Hope. "I'll be right back."

Hope nodded. "Take your time."

"Thanks for letting me borrow him tomorrow. I promise to get him back to you at a decent hour," Lani said to Hope with a wink.

"No problem. Thanks for donating," Hope said with a smile as she watched Lani practically drag Rafe off to the table.

"She's clearly got a crush on him," Aiden noted.

Hope nodded. "I think it's cute." She then looked at Aiden. "I know Rafe isn't the easiest person for you to get along with, but please remember when planning our date that I _am_ dating him."

Aiden nodded. "I will be a hundred percent respectful. I promise. I just like getting him going."

Hope rolled her eyes. "Just as _he_ likes getting _you_ going. Men! If I didn't know any better I'd say you two were in love with each other."

"I'd rather drink acid then ever fall for him," Aiden said.

Hope laughed. "I'm sure the feeling's mutual." She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry the bid got up to so much money. I know things are slightly tight with you now."

"You're worth every penny." Aiden took her hand and kissed it. "Anyway, like I said, I still have money from the lottery, and I'm doing well with my job. I have enough money to give you a date you will never forget. May I pick you up at five o'clock tomorrow? I'd like to get an early start. He grinned and winked at her.

She smiled. "Of course you can." She winked back.

"All right! I shall see you then. In the words of the ever so talented William Shakespeare, 'Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say goodnight 'til it be 'morrow.'" Aiden kissed her hand once again, then took off, leaving Hope blushing.


	17. S1E17

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 1: Episode 17_**

It was Valentine's Day, and Aiden was ready for his date with Hope. He was wearing a white dress shirt underneath a red V-neck sweater. He had the white cuffs of the dress shirt rolled over top of the cuffs of his sweater. He wore grey jeans, red socks, and dark grey dress boots. Being satisfied with his look, he checked his watch and saw that it was time to go pick Hope up. He hoped idiot Rafe wouldn't be there, but if he were, he would at least get to have a little fun by messing with him.

He smirked as he headed out of his apartment.

*This love came back to me.*

Hope checked herself in the mirror. Aiden had told her to dress half formal half casual, so she was a little confused on what to wear. She had finally settled upon a low-cut red jumpsuit with a silver belt to synch her already thin waist in. She wore a grey tweed blazer over it. On her feet she wore grey socks with grey dress boots. She wore her hair down but wavy with a silver smoky eye and red lips for her make up. Her nails were painted red to match her jumpsuit except for her ring fingers which were painted a silver glitter color.

She smiled at herself in the mirror. "I'd say I nailed it," she said, referring to her look.

She heard the doorbell ring. She quickly spritzed on her Bvlgari perfume, then headed down the stairs.

When she opened the door, Aiden smiled, and handed her a dozen thornless red roses. "I swear you get more beautiful every time I see you," he told her.

Hope smiled, and took the roses from him. She closed her eyes and inhaled their sweet scent. She opened her eyes. "Flattery will get you everywhere! Thank you. Come in. You look nice too. We match!"

Aiden grinned. "Had to wear red for Valentine's Day, right?"

Hope smirked. "Right! I'm just going to go put these in some water, then we can leave."

As Aiden waited for her, he noticed a picture of her and Rafe on the mantle. She had her arms around him from behind and they were both smiling big.

He sighed. There had been a day not that long ago that it was his picture on the mantle with her. He thought about dropping the picture "on accident" to make it break, but Hope was back before he could carry out his plan.

Aiden helped Hope put on her black dress coat. "You really do look stunningly beautiful tonight. I'm the luckiest man on earth for having you as my date."

Hope smiled and blushed. "Just remember that I am dating Rafe and that this is just for charity."

"Come on. It's not going to be so horrible spending the evening with me, is it?" Aiden asked. He knew she was just stating facts, but it still hurt his feelings a bit.

"No. You were the one I wanted to win me," she said, surprising him by taking his hand in hers. She kissed it, then dropped it. "So, where are you taking me?" She smiled big.

Aiden smiled too, his heart pounding from her kiss. "Our first stop is that new Italian restaurant that just opened up."

Hope's eyes grew wide. "Deliziosamente Italiano?"

Aiden nodded. "That'd be the one!"

"I've been wanting to eat there but I haven't had a chance yet! I've heard it's really good." Hope was excited now.

Aiden grinned. "Well, now you're going to get your chance!" He winked at her.

She grinned, and kissed his cheek. "You're the best."

He grinned as well, and held the door open for her.

She left the house, still smiling. The date had barely started and it felt like old times with Aiden already, Hope thought. Yes, she was dating Rafe now, but it didn't mean she couldn't have some platonic fun with Aiden. Tonight was going to be fun, she knew. She was looking forward to it.

*This love came back to me.*

They ended up getting a table for two right by the fireplace. Aiden had been thrilled when he had made the reservation and found that the table was still available. He was able to reserve it. He guessed that was the benefit of booking two weeks early. He had been confident that he would win Hope at the auction so he has made the reservation before the gala.

"This place is so beautiful," Hope said as Aiden helped her get her coat off.

"Isn't it? I love how there's view of the city below when you're on the dancefloor." He draped her coat over the back of her chair, and then pulled her chair out for her. He pushed it back in once she was sitting in it.

"Such a gentleman!" Hope gushed.

"Nothing by the best for my beautiful date!" Aiden said to her. He draped his own coat over the back of his chair, then sat down.

They looked over their menus.

When their waiter came, they ordered a bottle of red wine.

After they decided what they wanted to eat, and after the waiter had taken their order and left, Aiden wanted to dance.

He stood up and held out his hand to Hope. "May I have this dance?"

Hope smiled, and stood up. She took his hand. "Well, it would be a waste to let that beautiful view go to waste, wouldn't it?"

Aiden nodded. "It would."

So together they headed out onto the dancefloor. The music had been a little more upbeat until they got to the dancefloor and a slower song began to play.

Hope and Aiden looked at each other, both feeling a big awkward, but they took hold of each other and slowly began to dance to the song, which happened to be Taylor Swift's "This Love".

 _Clear blue water, high tide came and brought you in. And I could go on and on, on and on and I will._ _Skies grew darker, currents swept you out again. And you were just gone and gone, gone and gone._ _In silent screams, in wildest dreams, I never dreamed of this._

Her hand in Aiden's felt so right, Hope couldn't help but think. Their eyes locked, and she was taken back to the night they had first fallen in love nearly three years ago at the original gala.

 _This love is good, this love is bad, this love is alive back from the dead. Oh, oh, oh. These hands had to let it go free and this love came back to me. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh. Oh, oh, Oh…_

She couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like had Aiden never been manipulated by Andre into strangling her. They would still be married, and who knew where they would be. One thing Hope knew for sure was that they would still be madly in love with each other.

 _Tossing, turning, I struggled through the night with someone new, and I could go on and on, on and on. Lantern burning flickered in my mind for only you. But you're still gone, gone, gone. Been losing grip on sinking ships, you've showed up just in time._

They glided across the dancefloor, barely noticing the view outside the restaurant window, for the only widows they were interested in at the moment were the windows to each other's soul—each other's eyes.

 _This love is good, this love is bad. This love is alive, back from the dead. Oh, oh, oh. These hands had to let it go free and this love came back to me. Oh, oh, oh._ _This love left a permanent mark. This love is glowing in the dark. Oh, oh, oh. These hands had to let it go free and this love came back to me. Oh, oh, oh._

Aiden pulled her closer. Hope could see his love for her in his eyes. Her heart pounded, and for that moment, just for that moment, she let herself imagine they were back at that gala, falling in love with each other for the first time.

 _This love, this love, this love, this love… Oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh. Your kiss, my cheek, I watched you leave. Your smile, my ghost, I fell to my knees. When you're young you just run, but you come back to what you need._

She pushed some hair out of his eyes just as she had that night. She wanted so badly to kiss him but she knew it wouldn't be right even though it felt so, _so_ right to her.

 _This love is good, this love is bad. This love is alive back from the dead. Oh, oh, oh. These hands had to let it go free, and this love came back to me. Oh, oh, oh._

They were dancing so close their foreheads were touching now. Hope knew it wasn't very appropriate. Rafe would certainly not approve. But what Rafe didn't know wouldn't hurt him, and right now, all she cared about was dancing with Aiden to this beautiful song that touched her. In some ways it described her and Aiden perfectly, she noticed.

 _This love left a permanent mark. This love is glowing in the dark. Oh, oh, oh. These hands had to let it go free, and this love came back to me. Oh, oh, oh. This love, this love, this love, Woah, oh, oh. This love…came back to me. Woah, oh, oh._

The song ended, and Hope found herself a little sad that it was over. Their mouths were so close, she noticed.

The song changed to something a little more upbeat; snapping her out of it. She looked at the window and nodded towards it. "That really is a beautiful view with all the city lights."

Aiden nodded. "It sure is."

"Good! Our wine arrived at our table. Let's go have some," Hope headed back to the table without waiting for his response. She needed to stop romanticizing this date, she knew. It was just for charity. She was in love with Rafe; not Aiden. It was best she keep that in mind, she thought.

*This love came back to me.*

Dinner had been nice. They had talked, joked, laughed, and had a great time. Aiden had even gotten the waiter to take a picture of them at their table. He wanted to be able to forever cherish the memory of their first date since what he had done.

After dinner, Aiden took her to the park. He went into his trunk and took out two plastic sleds.

Hope raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. "What are those for?"

"Eating ice cream off of," Aiden joked.

"Cute. But seriously, we're going to go sledding?" she asked in surprise.

Aiden nodded. "I didn't want to do the typical dinner and a movie date. That would be too predictable and boring. So, I figured we could have a date where we embrace our inner child and have fun by doing the stuff we loved to do as kids."

A smile played at the corner of Hope's mouth. "I'm surprised you didn't take me to Chuck E. Cheese's for dinner if we're doing the whole 'embracing your inner child' thing."

Aiden smirked. "I actually thought about that, but then decided that I wanted to do at least one adult thing with you. Anyway, it's Valentine's Day. What kind of Valentine's Day would it be if we spent it at Chuck E. Cheese's?"

Hope nodded, eyeing him up. "Good choice! But I'm still not sure about this whole sled riding thing."

"Come on!" Aiden coaxed. "It will be fun! Didn't you love to sled ride as a kid?"

"I did," Hope confessed.

"Then what's changed just because you got a little older?" Aiden asked.

Hope thought about it for a moment. "Good question. You know what? Sled riding does sound like fun. Let's do this!

Aiden grinned. "That's the spirit! Which one do you want—red or blue?"

Hope took the red one. "It will match with my outfit."

"Good choice!" Aiden said. "Now come on. The biggest hill is right over there." He nodded in the direction of the hill he was talking about, and headed that way.

Hope followed after him, and soon they got to the hill and were making their climb up it.

"I'm getting too old to climb this high," she grumbled as they made their way up the ten-foot hill.

Aiden ignored her. He knew she would have fun once they got sliding.

Once they were at the top, they put their slides next to each other, but a foot apart so that they wouldn't slide into each other.

"Let's race," Aiden suggested.

"All right," Hope agreed.

"Are you ready? On the count of three," Aiden said.

Hope nodded.

Aiden began counting off. "One… Two… Hey!" He grumbled. Hope had taken off without him.

"Eat my dust!" Hope called out after him.

He gasped, and pushed off on his sled hard, trying his best to catch up to her.

*This love came back to me.*

"All right, I have to admit, that was quite fun," Hope said as they packed their sleds back into the trunk after a half hour of sledding.

Aiden grinned. "See? I told you. It's no less fun than it was when we were kids."

"In fact, I think it was even more fun!" Hope pouted, and crossed her arms over her chest. "Though it does annoy me that you always seemed to beat me down the hill even when I had a head start."

"I'm heavier. For some reason the heavier you are, the faster you go. And you, my Dear, are skin and bones." He playfully pinched her side.

She laughed, and swatted away his hand. "Stop!"

"So, what do you want to do next?" Aiden asked. "I left a little space opened for anything you might want to do."

Hope looked at her watch. "Well, I was thinking we could go ice skating. We can go to the one in the park and rent the skates."

Aiden shook his head. "You're good at that kind of thing, but I can guarantee you I will fall flat on my ass. I'll just watch."

Hope shook her head and grabbed his arm. "No way! You're going to skate with me. I'll teach you. Surely you can manage a simple lap around the rink. It's not like I'm asking you to do triple axles or anything."

"Believe me, I won't even be able to get around the rink!" Aiden said, though he followed her toward the rink anyway.

"Oh, stop! You'll do fine." Hope said as they arrived at the rink.

"Well, at least not many people are here," Aiden said, looking around the rink. There was a teenage couple and a mother and father with their young boy and girl. The kids looked to be no older than four.

"What size skate do you wear?" Hope asked, already at the rental booth.

Aiden waked up beside her. "I have no idea because I've never worn skates before."

Hope smirked. "It's the same as your shoe size, Silly."

Aiden blushed. "Oh! Well, in that case I'm a nine and a half."

So, they rented their skates. Aiden paid for them both even though Hope had insisted she pay.

Once they were all laced up, they headed over to the ice.

Aiden was holding on to Hope's arm for dear life.

"It's not as scary as it looks; I promise," Hope said to him. "It's all about balance."

"Which I've never been good at," Aiden stated.

"Come on! Are you here to have fun or are you here to bitch?" Hope asked.

Aiden relaxed. "I'm here to have fun." He reminded himself that this is what Hope wanted to do, and he wanted to support anything she wanted to do. "All right, so how do I get around this rink without falling flat on my butt?"

Hope grinned. Just move yourself forward as if you're speed walking, only remember to try to stay balanced as best you can. You have to push off toward the back with one leg while keeping the other leg in front of you then you switch legs. Also, remember to lean into the turn when it comes time to turn."

"I may be a grown man, but I'm still nervous," Aiden confessed.

Hope took his hand. "Here. We'll skate together."

Aiden took her hand and they smiled at each other.

"Are you ready?" Hope asked him.

"Always as long as I'm with you," he told her.

She kissed his cheek. "All right, now push off with your back leg."

He did as told, and they were off. He was a little wobbly, but Hope kept him from falling. They managed to make it around the rink, but very slowly.

"I feel like an idiot." Aiden nodded toward the kids. "Those four-year-olds skate around like it's nothing, yet I can't make it around the rink without holding your hand."

Hope shrugged. "Don't feel bad. Everyone is different. Some take longer to learn than others; that's all."

"Let me see you skate around without me. I like watching you," Aiden said to her.

"All right, but stay to the side. I don't want anyone crashing into you." Hope led him off to the side of the rink, where he rested against the wall.

Hope then took off, skating laps around the teenage couple, the kids, and their parents. She glided over the ice as if she was born to skate. She was so graceful, if Aiden didn't know any better, he'd swear she could fly. He snapped a couple pictures of her.

She finished with a double axel in front of him.

"All right, now you're just showing off!" he said with a smirk.

She smirked. "Maybe just a little. Though I used to be able to do a triple axel, but now that I'm getting older it's just a double."

"Poor you," Aiden said sarcastically.

"I can tell this isn't anything fun for you, so we can go if you'd like," Hope said.

"No, Hope, if you want to stay then we'll stay," Aiden said. He felt bad for being such a party pooper.

Hope shook her head. "We can go. I got to skate a few laps. I'm good. I can't have fun if I know you're not having any fun."

Aiden didn't want to seem lame to her, so he decided he was going to try to impress her. "I want to try a lap around the rink by myself before we go."

Hope grinned. "Are you sure? You don't have to try to impress me. We don't have to like all the same things."

"I can do this. Let me try," Aiden said. He didn't want her to think he didn't at least try.

Hope nodded, and crossed her arms over her chest. "All right then. Show me what you got, Jennings!"

So Aiden took a deep breath and slowly let it out; trying to will himself into this. Then, he pushed off, and began his journey around the rink. To his surprise, he was actually doing it! He was going super slowly, but he was doing it. He rounded the corner and picked up speed just a little. He almost slipped but caught himself. He went around the next corner and saw Hope in his sight. She snapped a picture of him and he smiled, suddenly feeling the urge to really impress her. After all, she had approached him with a double axel! Now, he wasn't out of his mind enough to think that he could even attempt _one_ axel, but he figured he could at least skate up to her at a regular speed instead of the snail speed he was used to. So, he quickened up his pace and headed right for her. However, his eyes got big and he started to panic as he realized that Hope hadn't taught him how to stop.

He saw Hope growing closer and closer to him. Her eyes were as wide as his if not wider.

"Aiden stop!" she cried out.

It was too late. He didn't know how to stop. She tried to get out of the way, but he felt himself falling, and then he felt his body colliding with something that wasn't hard as ice. It was soft like a body—Hope's body to be exact.

They came crashing down onto the ice. Hope landed backwards on the ice and Aiden landed on top of her.

"Ow." Hope said with a wince.

"I am _so_ sorry!" he said; horrified. "I didn't know how to stop! Are you all right?"

"Barely." Hope replied.

Aiden blushed. He was so worried he had hurt her, but suddenly, she started to laugh.

"Okay, so maybe trying to teach you how to skate wasn't such a great idea after all," she said through giggles.

"I'm _so_ sorry!" Aiden repeated. Oh my gosh, are you all right? Not only did you fall backwards hard onto the ice, but I fell on top of you."

She smiled. "Really, I'm fine. I'm a cop remember? I'm used to roughness."

Aiden pushed some hair out of her face. He knew he should be getting off of her, but she looked so beautiful beneath him. "I hate that I hurt you again."

She looked into his eyes, her voice soft. "Aiden, I'm fine, really. Besides, it was an accident."

Their lips were so close.

Aiden stroked her hair out of her face again. "You're so beautiful." He hadn't meant to say that out loud, but there it was.

Their eyes lowered, and their lips got closer and closer until their lips met. They kissed softly at first, then more passionately.

Aiden then broke the kiss. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cross any boundaries. I was just caught up in the moment." He carefully rolled off of her.

"It's okay. I'm sorry too. I got caught up in the moment also." Hope sounded flustered.

"I'd help you up, but as long as I still have these skates on, it's not the best idea," Aiden said with a grin, trying to break the awkward tension. He managed to get himself standing without falling.

Hope stood up. "It's okay. I agree—probably a good idea you didn't help me."

They both laughed.

They had the father of the kids take a picture of them together on the ice (Hope holding Aiden tightly so he wouldn't fall again), then they carefully made their way back to the rental booth and exchanged their skates for their boots.

Then, they sat on a bench at put their boots back on.

"I guess I'd better be going. It's getting late," Hope said.

"You can't go yet. I have one more thing planned for our inner-child date," Aiden said to her.

She looked at him, an eyebrow raised. "What would that be?"

Aiden grinned, and stood up. He offered his hand to her. "Follow me and find out."

She stared at him for a moment, hesitant, then took his hand. "This better be good, Jennings."

Aiden grinned. "It will be. Now come on!"

Hope shook her head and smiled, then let him help her up. She followed after him wondering what exactly it was he had up his sleeve this time.

*This love came back to me.*

"All right, so we're in the middle of nothing but blank space. Snow, snow, and more snow," Hope said as they entered an empty clearing in the park. "What exactly do you have planned?"

Aiden laid down in the snow.

Hope covered her mouth and smiled. "What are you doing?"

"Making snow angels of course!" He began to move his legs and arms. "Come try one."

Hope shook her head. "Uh, uh! No way. I'm not lying down in the snow."

"Aw, come on, Hope! It will be fun! Please? Didn't you love making these as a kid?" Aiden pleaded.

"I'll look silly," Hope said.

"In case you haven't noticed, no one's around to see. Anyway, you think I didn't look silly skating?" Aiden asked.

Hope sighed. "Oh, all right! Fair enough I guess." Reluctantly, she knelt down in the snow.

"Come on. Keep going," Aiden gently coaxed.

Hope then lay down beside him, leaving just enough room so that their "angel wings" wouldn't overlap.

"There you go!" Aiden encouraged.

She smiled, then began to make a snow angel. She laughed. "All right, you're right. This _is_ kind of fun!"

"See?" Aiden asked, laughing too. "I was right about the sledding, and I'm right about this too. I knew you'd have fun!"

They did their angels for a moment more, then carefully got up and examined their angels. They were beautiful.

"You look stunningly beautiful even in snow angel form," Aiden told her. She snapped a picture of their angels. They had taken pictures of each other sledding as well, and had even gotten a fellow sledder to take a picture of them on their sleds together.

She blushed. "You flatter me too much. I might start getting a big head."

Aiden shrugged. "I only state the truth!"

Hope blushed some more. "You know, if adults acting like kids was more socially acceptable, on a normal basis, we could still do all the fun things we used to love doing as kids."

Aiden shrugged. "Heck, we still could. Life's too short to care what other people think. If they don't like it, well, too bad. They don't have to act like a kid then."

Hope nodded. "Very true!" She sighed. "Well, unfortunately, I really should be going now. It's getting late. But thanks for such a wonderful evening! I had so much fun! It was more fun than I've had in a while."

Aiden hugged her. "Thank you! I had more fun than I've had in a while too."

She hugged him back.

"Quick selfie!" Aiden said, pulling her close and holding his camera out.

Hope laughed, then smiled with him for the photo. "Text me the photos of us on your phone, and I'll text you the ones on mine," she said to him.

Aiden nodded. "Will do. Would you like me to drive you home?"

"I'm all right. My house isn't far from here. Anyway, I'm supposed to get together with Rafe. There's no use in getting him a foul mood by him seeing you dropped me off. Normally, I wouldn't care; he'd just have to get over it; but since it's Valentine's Day…" Hope trailed off.

Aiden felt his heart sink a little at the thought of her going home to spend a romantic night with Rafe. However, he kept his cool. "I understand. Have a good night."

Hope smiled, then kissed is cheek. "Thanks you too. And thanks again for such a wonderful evening."

Aiden felt his heart pounding for her. He kissed her cheek in return. "The pleasure was all mine."

Hope blushed yet again. She then smiled at him and waved, before waking off the other way.

He smiled and waved too, then sighed, and headed in the other direction. They had kissed again. He had felt how passionate her kiss was when they kissed on the ice. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. It was only a matter of time before she would be his and Rafe would be out of the picture for good.

Aiden sighed again. It was going to be hard waiting for her, but he would. After all, Hope was worth the wait and then some.

*This love came back to me.*

As Hope was walking through the park back to her place, she saw Rafe and Lani through the clearing. She knew she shouldn't eve's drop, but she found herself unable to resist.

She hid behind the trees, watched, and listened.

Rafe and Lani were standing in front of a park bench laughing at something or another.

"You know, I enjoyed this night so much. It's a dream come true of mine to have finally gone on a date with you," Lani said to him.

Rafe smiled. "I had a lot of fun, and I enjoyed it. But Lani, you've got to remember that it wasn't really a date. It's more of hanging out as friends. I'm happily dating Hope."

Lani nodded. "You're right. I know. I'm sorry." She teared up a bit. She hung her head. "I was stupid for bidding on you. I know you could never like me in that way." She looked up at him. "I mean, right from the beginning you told me you couldn't go out with me because of our working together, yet you're now dating Hope whom you're not only working with, but who is your partner. I'm such an idiot for every thinking an amazing guy like you would ever like me in return. Gosh! What is _wrong_ with me? I'm so stupid!"

Rafe shook his head. "Don't say that, Lani. You're an incredible girl. You're smart—so smart! Heck, I've been at this cop thing for years. You've just begun not that long ago, and already you're even better at it than I am."

Lani shook her head. "No. You don't need to make up things to try to make me feel better. Face it, Rafe. I have. I'm unlovable. No guy is ever going to want a sad pathetic loser like me."

Rafe reached out and gently lifted her chin with his thumb and index finger. "Come on Lani, that's so not true and you know it!" He gently wiped away her tears with his thumbs. "You're a beautiful and amazing girl. You're so funny and kind. Like I said, you're an out of this world cop. Any guy on earth would be the luckiest guy on the planet to have a catch like you."

Lani sniffled. "You really think so?"

Rafe nodded. "I know so," he said softly.

Lani looked at him, desire clearly seen in her eyes even from where Hope was standing. "Well, any girl would be the lucky girl on the planet to have a catch like you," she said just as softly.

Hope watched in shock as Lani and Rafe inched closer to each other, and she nearly gasped out loud when Lani's lips met with Rafe's.

 _That little…_ Even though she and Aiden had kissed, it still made Hope incredibly angry with Lani for kissing Rafe. At least she and Aiden had history. Lani and Rafe however, did not!

Rafe then began kissing Lani back.

Hope couldn't believe her own eyes! She wanted to storm right over and tell them both off, but she was too upset to. Instead, she took off back toward the way that she had come. She needed someone right now. She needed someone that wasn't Rafe or anything like him.

*This love came back to me.*

Rafe pulled away from Lani. "What are you doing?"

Lani blushed and looked away. "I'm sorry. I thought you wanted me."

"Lani, didn't you listen to anything I just told you about Hope?" Rafe asked.

Lani nodded. "But then you said any guy would be lucky to have me."

"And they would! If they aren't already taken. I am. I thought I made that clear," Rafe said. He sighed when he noticed she looked like she was about to cry again. "Look, I shouldn't have kissed you back. I was just surprised, and kissed you back instinctively. I apologize for leading you on in any way."

Lani shook her head. "No, you didn't. You told me how you feel. I just didn't choose to believe it. Well, don't worry. You've finally come through loud and clear." She then turned around and ran off.

"Lani, wait. Lani!" Rafe called after her. But it was too late. She was already gone.

Rafe sighed. "Damn it!" Maybe if he wasn't with Hope he'd give Lani a chance. After all, he really had meant all the things he had said to her. But he _was_ with Hope and he loved her _so_ much. Lani would get over him and bounce back. He knew she would. She had to.

He sighed, and looked at his watch. Then, he left the park and headed for Hope's place. She should hopefully be coming back from her date by now, he figured.

*This love came back to me.*

"Good, you're still here! I thought you'd be gone by now," Hope said as she met up with Aiden in front of his car.

Aiden nodded. "I decided to get a coffee quick before heading home. You've got tears in your eyes. What's wrong?" he asked with worry. He walked over to her and gently wiped at her eyes.

Instead of responding, Hope pulled him tightly to her and kissed him passionately on the mouth. "Make love to me," she breathily ordered after breaking the kiss.

Aiden blinked in beyond surprise at both the sudden passionate kiss, and at her stunning words. He was not quite sure he had heard her right. "Do what now?"


	18. S1E18

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 1: Episode 18_**

Aiden blinked in surprise at Hope's request. "I'm sorry?"

"Make love to me," Hope repeated. She began kissing his neck.

"Hope…" Aiden trailed off, closing his eyes. "You don't know how long I've been waiting for you to say that."

"Good! Now let's go some place more private," Hope said.

Aiden held her at arms' length. "As much as is pains me to ask, what about Rafe?"

"I don't care about Rafe. I just caught him on his date with Lani, kissing her," Hope said bitterly.

"Are you sure?" Aiden asked. He hated Rafe, but Rafe didn't strike him as the type to cheat on Hope.

Hope nodded. "I watched them from the bushes. He said something about how beautiful and kind she was and how any man would be lucky to have a woman like her. She kissed him, then he clearly returned the kiss."

"I'm so sorry," Aiden said. He wasn't sorry to hear that Rafe was an even bigger jerk than he had thought, but he was sorry that Hope got hurt again.

"Don't be." Hope pulled him close again, her hands around his waist. She kissed him passionately on the mouth. "Take me home and make love to me. I wanna be with you."

Aiden sighed. "Baby, you have no idea how much I want to be with you, but I think that if we make love now, you're going to regret it later."

Hope shook her head. "No. I won't. I've been trying to fight my feelings for you all this time, but now that Rafe has kissed Lani, there's no reason for me to fight them any longer."

"Hope, I really think you _will_ regret it. You don't even know if things are really as they looked," Aiden said hesitantly. He wanted her so very badly, but he knew he couldn't take advantage of the situation. He had hurt her far too much already and was not about to hurt her again.

Hope looked hurt. "I thought you said you wanted me? Don't you love me anymore?" Tears started welling up in her eyes.

Aiden instantly felt bad. Here he was, hurting her again anyway. He gently stroked her cheek. "You know I do." He took her hand and kissed it before placing it over his heart. "More and more with every beat of my heart."

"Then please, Mr. Jennings, make love to me." Hope kissing his neck again. She stared into his eyes. "Please?"

Aiden stared into her pleading eyes.

She began kissing his lips down his jawline, then own his neck yet again. "Please? I need you, Mr. Jennings. I need you to make love to me. Now."

"Oh how I've missed you calling me Mr. Jennings!" Aiden said, feeling his defenses weaken.

Hope gently nipped at the skin of his neck as she kissed it.

He felt himself getting _very_ warm despite the cold chill of the weather. "Let's go back to my place," he murmured against her ear.

Hope grinned; pleased. She kissed him passionately on the lips her fingers running through his hair, then took his hand and let him lead her to the passenger side of the rental car.

Aiden opened her door, then shut it after she got in.

He sighed as he headed over to the driver's side. He knew he should wait until she was less vulnerable, but he couldn't help it. He wanted her so badly.

He got into the car and quickly headed for his apartment, so eager to finally be intimate with Hope again.

*This love came back to me.*

They arrived at Aiden's place. Aiden unlocked the door and then motioned for Hope to walk in.

Hope kissed him backing into the room and pulling him along with her.

He moaned into her kisses and kicked the door closed behind him. He broke the kisses and took her hand leading her to the bedroom.

"Are you sure you want to do this? You don't want to talk to Rafe first?" he asked, out of breath.

She shook her head. "I know what I saw."

"It might not be what it looks like," Aiden warned her. He didn't want her to go back to Rafe by any means, but more than anything he didn't want her to regret their first time together since his return. If they were to do this, he wanted to make sure she really wanted this.

"I know what I saw all right? He seemed pretty into it," Hope looked annoyed now. She crossed her arms over her chest then uncrossed them and took off her coat. She tossed it aside to the floor.

"They key word being 'seemed'," Aiden said quietly. He looked down to the floor. Maybe Rafe really _was_ kissing Lani. Who knew? He just didn't think it was in Rafe's nature to be a cheater.

"Hey," Hope said gently. She lifted his chin up so that he had to look at her. "I want this. I promise. I couldn't be more sure about wanting to be with you than I am right now. I appreciate you wanting to make sure that I really want this. I do want it so please, Mr. Jennings, make love to me." She kissed his neck again and looked into his eyes pleadingly. "Please?" she asked gently.

Aiden nodded. "All right. I want this too. You have no idea how much." He took off his coat and draped it over a chair.

Hope smiled. "Good! Hold on just a second. I have to text Rafe and the kids that I'll be staying at Jennifer's. I'll say she is having a personal problem and needs me." She sat down at the end of the bed.

Aiden raised an eyebrow at how quickly Hope could think up a lie. Maybe she was even more like him than he thought! Though, he didn't like lying to her anymore. His lies had nearly destroyed them last time, and he wasn't going to let them be destroyed by lies again. However, Hope's current lie was a good thing, he knew. Not for Rafe, but that made it an even better lie in Aiden's opinion. He sat down on the bed beside her.

Hope quickly texted Rafe and the kids in a mass text as Aiden moved Hope's hair out of the way and began sensually kissing the side of her neck.

Hope smiled as she typed.

 _Hey, Jen called me. She is having a personal problem and really needs me tonight. Abby's out with Chad, Thomas is with the babysitter, and JJ is out with Gabi. She's all alone. I'm so sorry. I really need to be there for her tonight. Don't wait up. I'll be home early tomorrow._

Hope sent the text then turned her phone off and set it aside. "Now," she murmured, her eyes on Aiden again. "Where were we?" She wrapped her arms around him and laid down on the bed pulling him down on top of her.

Aiden moaned, and slowly began undoing her belt.

*This love came back to me.*

Hope closed her eyes her mouth dropped open as Aiden made love to her. She had forgotten how good it felt to be with him. She had always remembered he was amazing in bed, but this time around he felt so good inside her; even more so than she had remembered him to be. It felt so right being with Aiden. All thoughts of Rafe were gone from her mind, for all she could concentrate on was Aiden, how good he felt, and how much she had missed being with him. He kissed down her neck and she moaned. She had also forgotten how good that felt.

"I love you," she whispered.

"Oh, Baby, I love you too. I love you so much," he murmured, kissing her softly on the lips.

She returned his kisses, and soon their kisses became more heated, and their love making became more intense.

His moans of pleasure were adding to her own pleasure. She loved making him feel good. She loved feeling his love for her and knowing that he loved her as much as she loved him.

He placed his hand in her own, their fingers entwining. He then began kissing her neck again. He trailed his kisses down her neck, and down past her collar bone area, then he brought his mouth down to her breasts, first the left, then the right.

She tangled her fingers in his hair, her head thrown back.

He then made his way back up her body his lips back to her neck and then met with her lips again as they continued to make love. His hands roamed down over her body.

Hope wrapped her legs around his waist.

Their breathing was heavy as they both neared the end. As she dug her fingers into his back, her head thrown back, he gently lifted her up and kissed, nipped and licked at her neck.

She moaned again, and he laid her back down, his mouth back on hers as he went back to work at giving them both their ultimate goal.

*This love came back to me.*

The next morning, Aiden gently stroked Hope's hair as he watched her sleep.

She slowly fluttered her eyes open.

He smiled at her. "Good morning, Beautiful."

She smiled too. "Mm… Good morning, Handsome."

They kissed softly on the lips.

For a moment, they lie in bed kissing in each other's arms.

"Mm… Last night was incredible. Thank you," Hope murmured.

"Thank me? Baby, thank you! You were the incredible one," Aiden said to her. He began kissing her neck again.

Hope smiled shyly. "It felt so good and so right to be with you again."

Aiden gently stroked her cheek. "Tell me about it! You have no idea how many nights I dreamed of being with you again."

"I hate Andre for holding you captive," Hope said. She slowly and gently ran her finger over Aiden's heart surgery scar. "But I am grateful to him and Stefano for saving your life." She softly kissed his scar.

"Me too," Aiden said, gently stroking her hair.

They kissed softly on the lips.

Aiden broke the kiss after a few kisses. "I have to go to the bathroom and freshen up a bit, but when I get back, I'm going to make love to you again," he kissed her shoulder, "again," he kissed her neck, "and again." He kissed her lips.

Hope looked away, her heart sinking a bit.

"Hey," Aiden said softly. He gently moved her chin towards him so that she was forced to look in his eyes. "What's wrong?"

Hope bit her bottom lip. "Nothing. It's just that… I'm starting to feel guilty now. I can't believe I cheated on Rafe. All my life I've never been a cheater. This is so out of character for me!"

"Rafe cheated on you too," Aiden reminded her.

Hope moved to her side so that her whole body was facing him. She propped her head up with her hand. "As far as I know, they only kissed. You said it yourself. I don't know why I got so angry without knowing the full story. Heck, I myself had already kissed you multiple times by the time I saw him kissing Lani. True, you and I have history, but still…"

"Do you regret being with me last night?" Aiden asked, both looking and sounding hurt.

Hope shook her head and gently stroked his cheek. "No. I meant what I told you last night. I love you, and I wanted to be with you. The truth is, ever since you came back, I've been trying _so_ hard to fight my feelings for you. I only regret not talking to Rafe about my feelings for you first. I guess maybe, in an odd way, I was looking for any excuse to be with you, and that is why I didn't question seeing Rafe and Lani kissing but instead ran off to be with you."

"You know, you've already cheated with me. We might as well make love again while you're still here. It's still the same time so it won't be like cheating again. Now, if you had left my apartment and came back later it would be cheating again, but since you never left, it is still considered one time," Aiden reasoned.

Hope weakly smiled, and gently stroked his cheek. "I don't think it works that way."

"Don't you want to be with me again?" Aiden asked her, his tone dripping with desire for her. He began kissing a path up her neck, and he placed a hand on her right breast; gently fondling it.

She closed her eyes, her breathing starting to get rapid at even just the thought of being with him and feeling him inside her again. "Of course I do."

"Then wait right here." Aiden kissed her lips. "I'll be right back." He then got up and headed to the bathroom.

Aiden's words suddenly triggered a memory in Hope's mind. She instantly was taken back to their wedding night right after they had made love. She remembered him kissing her then telling her he'll be right back; that he had to go get a surprise for her. Except, the only surprise was him returning posing as the necktie killer. She remembered how they had struggled. He had knocked her over the head nearly made her fall down the stairs, then choked the life out of her despite her pleas for him to stop. Well, _almost_ choked the life out of her. Had Bo not been there to save her, Aiden surely would have choked the life out of her.

Hope placed her hand over her neck at the memory. She suddenly felt panicked as if she were back in her house with psycho Aiden on their wedding night. She could practically feel Aiden's hands squeezing around her neck.

She knew she was being silly. He had only done that to protect his son. He was different now. He would never hurt her.

She heard him brushing his teeth in the bathroom and she relaxed a little.

She grabbed her phone and turned it on. After it booted up, she found that Rafe had left her a couple texts. One was to tell her he understood, but he loved her and would miss her that night. He told her she was a good cousin to Jennifer. The other was to inquire when she would be home this morning.

Hope suddenly felt beyond guilty. In fact, she felt like a monster.

The water had stopped in the bathroom, and Hope could no longer hear Aiden moving around in the bathroom. She suddenly felt her nervousness seeping back in.

She hopped out of bed and quickly redressed. Next, she put her coat and shoes on, grabbed her coat and purse, and then headed out of the apartment before Aiden came back out.

Aiden came out of the bathroom a moment later. "I'm finally ready for you my Darling," he said. He looked at the bed and saw that Hope was no longer on it. "Hope?" He looked around the apartment. "Where are you?" He soon realized that her clothes were gone, and that she had left.

He sighed. He was sad she had left, but he understood her feeling guilty. It was all right. She could have this time to break up with Rafe. He had no doubt in his mind that after last night, she would soon be back in his arms again for good.

*This love came back to me*

Rafe was waiting for Hope when she arrived home. "Hey." He kissed her softly on the lips. "I missed you."

Hope smiled, feeling guilty even though she was still angry with Rafe for kissing Lani. Though, she knew she had absolutely no right to be. "I missed you too." She let Rafe in the house and entered the house with him. She shut the door, then they both sat down on the couch.

"How's Jennifer?" Rafe asked.

Hope hated lying, but she had already began spinning the web. What was one more strand? "She's fine now. She had just strained her back trying to bring a heavy box of pictures down from the attic. She was tempted to start taking pills again for it. Like I said, the kids were out with their significant others and Thomas was with the nanny, so she felt all alone. She need me there for moral support so that she wouldn't be tempted to start taking pain meds again."

"So she's good now?" Rafe asked.

Hope nodded. "Yes. I had her lie on her stomach and I placed a heating pad over the area she strained. She says she feels better. She made an appointment for her chiropractor before I left. He's going to look at it just in case."

"Does she even have pain meds in the house still?" Rafe asked.

Hope looked away, and pushed some hair behind her ear. "I'm not sure. I think maybe she was afraid over the counter pain meds would trigger something. I'm pretty sure she at least had those in the house."

"Huh! Well, As much as I hated not being able to spend Valentine's Day with you, I understand." Rafe pulled Hope close, and kissed the top of her head. "You're a good cousin and friend to Jennifer."

Hope smiled weakly; feeling even guiltier now.

"Anyway," Rafe continued, "how was your date with Aiden last night? What did you do?"

Hope felt her face flushing fifty shades of crimson at the memory of Aiden making love to her. "We um, went to dinner at that new Italian restaurant."

"Ah! I wanted to be the one to take you there," Rafe said with a pout.

Hope looked at him. "You still can." She grinned while gently stroking his cheek. "We also went sled riding and ice skating, then made snow angels."

Rafe smirked and scrunched his eyebrows. "That's a little juvenile, isn't it?"

Hope smirked as well. "It was, but I still had fun. He wanted us to embrace our inner children."

Rafe snorted. "What a weirdo! Well, Lani and I went to that theater a half hour from here where they have tables in the theater and a menu so that you can eat dinner and watch the movie at the same time. We saw that _Fifty Shades Darker_ movie. I am _so_ not into that crap, but she really wanted to see it, so I watched it for her sake. We then went bowling, and ended the night with a walk in the park."

Hope raised an eyebrow. "Oh? So how did you like your date?" She felt a little miffed again.

Rafe sighed. "I have to tell you something. In the park, Lani got kind of emotional about me not feeling the same way about her as she felt about me. I told her how beautiful she was and what a great cop she was. I assured her that any guy would be lucky to date her. I had already told her I was in love with you and only you. Still, she took it as me meaning any guy would be lucky to date her, myself included, and she kissed me. I kissed her back out of instinct just for a couple seconds, then I pushed her away once my brain was finally able to register what was happening. I asked her what she was doing. I told her again that you were the only woman for me. She was upset. I apologized for leading her on, but it was too late. She was pretty upset and ran off. I feel terrible about hurting her. I also hate that I kissed her even though it was only for a couple seconds and instinctively at that."

Hope felt absolutely sick to her stomach. Had she just stuck around a couple second longer, she would have seen and heard that it was all a bit understanding. Instead, she had run off and cheated with Aiden by sleeping with Aiden and almost doing it again this morning. She was a weak, pathetic, monster. She felt so shamed. "It's okay. She put you in an awkward situation," she managed to choke out.

"I'm not going to work with her anymore. We've been so swamped a the station that I've been partnering with her at times, but I'm going to tell Roman that it isn't a good or appropriate idea anymore considering how she feels about me," Rafe added. He wrapped an arm around Hope. "From now on you're going to be my one and only partner." He smiled at her.

Hope smiled weakly up and him and nodded. "Yes! Good idea." She felt like she was going to throw up.

"Anyway, I wanted this to be more romantic. I was going to do this last night, but that didn't work out so, I want to do it now. I don't want to wait a moment more to ask you this." Rafe got up off of the couch and took out something from his pocket. He then got down on one knee in front of her.

Hope gasped, and covered her mouth as she looked at him kneeling down in front of her with a black velvet ring box in his hands.

Rafe flipped the lid open revealing a beautiful diamond ring. "Hope Williams Brady, will you marry me?"

Hope had tears in her eyes, and her hand was still over her mouth. She honestly didn't know what to say.


	19. S1E19

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 1: Episode 19_**

Hope had tears in her eyes as she saw Rafe kneeling in front of her, the open ring box in his hands as he looked up at her adoringly.

"All you have to do is say yes," Rafe said with a grin, mistaking her tears for tears of joy.

"Before I respond to your proposal, there's something you really need to know," Hope said quietly.

"What is it?" Rafe asked, his smile faltering just a bit.

Hope sighed. "You may want to sit down for this one."

Rafe's smile went from faltering to non-existent. "I don't know if I like the sound of this," he said, slowly getting up, then moving to sit down next to Hope on the couch. He still held the open ring box in his hands. "What is it? Did Aiden do something to you?" He sounded angry at the thought.

Hope blushed, and pushed some hair behind her ear as she flashbacked to the night before when she made love with Aiden. "I uh… I have a confession to make. Last night I was headed home from the park and I saw you and Lani talking. I was curious about your date, so I hid behind the bushes and listened in. I heard your conversation leading up to the kiss, and when you kissed her in return, I thought the kiss was real. I left before you pulled away. I didn't hear you setting her straight."

Rafe gently stroked her cheek. "Hope, I'm sorry you had to see that, but you gotta know, I would never cheat on you! Things went exactly as I told you they went. You have to believe me!"

Hope nodded. She took his hand in her own and kissed it. "I do believe you. I know you'd never cheat on me. I just wasn't thinking clearly last night." She dropped Rafe's hand, and looked away guiltily.

"Tell me the truth. Did Jen really have a problem, or did you just make up a story because you didn't want to be with me last night after thinking I cheated?" Rafe asked gently.

Hope looked at him, feeling even guiltier yet. She nodded. "You're right." She pushed some hair behind her ear again. "I wasn't really with Jen last night."

"Well, where were you then?" Rafe asked, sounding a little worried now.

Hope looked at him, biting her bottom lip as she tried to decide what to tell him.

*This love came back to me.*

Meanwhile, Aiden went into Club TBD to get a coffee before his community service for the day. He saw Lani and sitting at a table nearby, so after receiving his coffee, he headed over to her. "Care for some company?" he asked.

Lani shrugged. "It's a free country."

Aiden sat down in front of her. "So, I heard your date with Rafe went well last night."

Lani looked at him in surprise. "Did he say something to you?"

Aiden shook his head. "No. Hope was eavesdropping on you guys and saw the kiss."

Lani paled. "Great! She knows? Now she's going to make work a living hell for me. I can't believe she eavesdropped!"

"I don't think Hope is the type to do that. If anything, she will get on Rafe's case for kissing you back." Aiden sipped his coffee.

Lani stared down at her latte. "Yeah, well, he did pull away and tell me that Hope is the only woman for me, so I think she'll get over it. I'm the one she's going to have a problem with."

"He did what?" Aiden asked in surprise.

Lani looked up at him. "Didn't Hope tell you that part?"

Aiden shook his head. "No. She left when she saw Rafe kissing you back."

Lani rolled her eyes. "Had she stayed, she would have seen him pull away from me and tell me that he only kissed me back out of instinct. He wants nothing to do with me romantically despite his saying that any man would be lucky to have me."

Aiden felt his heart sink. He knew Hope would confront Rafe about the kiss, and when she did, she would find out the truth. Heck, she probably already knew by now seeing as Rafe could barely let her even pee without being by her side. He was probably there the moment she had gotten home, Aiden knew.

"What's it to you anyway?" Lani asked nodding at him. "We barely know each other. In fact, have we ever even said two words to each other?"

Aiden shrugged. "We're on the same boat. I love Hope and you love Rafe."

"But they love each other," Lani quipped.

"Hope also loves me. I know she does," Aiden told her as he sipped his coffee.

Lani raised an eyebrow. "How do you know?"

"I just do," Aiden said. It was none of Lani's business what had happened between him and Hope. Still, she could be useful to him.

"Well, if that's true then good for you. But Rafe doesn't have any feelings whatsoever toward me," Lani said, looking sad.

Aiden shrugged. "I don't know. I think he does. I mean, if a man tells a woman that any guy would be lucky to date a girl like her, then he must have _some_ feelings for her. I mean, think of a guy you know well, but have absolutely no feelings for."

Lani thought about it for a moment. "All right. Roman Brady."

Aiden nodded. "Good choice! Now, would you say any girl would be lucky to date him?"

Lani also thought about that for a moment. "I don't know. I can't really think of a girl being lucky because I wouldn't consider myself lucky to date him. He's got a great job, and I'm sure he gets paid well. He's nice, but I don't think of him at all in that way so it's hard to think of telling one of my girlfriends that they'd be lucky to have him."

Aiden smirked. "Do you see my point?"

Lani grinned. "You know what? I do."

"I think you just need to work a little more toward making him fall for you. I've already been working on Hope," Aiden admitted. He tried not to blush as he thought of how he had "worked on" Hope the night before.

"How did your date go last night?" Lani asked as she sipped her latte.

"It went wonderfully. It ended on a very good note. I have no doubt in my mind that I will soon be able to win her over," Aiden replied.

"Well, I hope you do because then that will free up Rafe, and then I will be right there to help him pick up the pieces," Lani said with a smile.

"To us getting the woman and man that we want!" Aiden said, holding out his mug to Lani.

Lani held out her mug to him as well. "To us getting the woman and man that we want!"

They clinked mugs, then downed the rest of their coffees before grinning smugly at each other.

*This love came back to me.*

"Why do you look so sick?" Ciara asked Chase as they sat at their usual table in the cafeteria for lunch. "Are you coming down with something?"

Joey nodded. "You literally look green, Dude." He flung a piece of lunchmeat at him.

Chase let the lunchmeat hit his forehead and fall to his lap.

"He _must_ be sick! He didn't even try to catch it in his mouth like he usually does," Claire said with worry. She latched onto Chase's arm. "What's wrong?"

"I'd rather not talk about it, all right?" Chase asked quietly. He looked away.

"Well, if _you're_ not going to eat it, I will," said Jonah. Jonah was a new this year. He was obese with curly clown-like blonde hair. Ciara and Claire had seen him getting picked on one day, and they stood up for him and took him under their wings. They had invited him to sit with them at lunch one day, then he kept coming back. Chase, Theo and Joey quickly grew to like him. He was funny and liked a lot of the same things they did. Sadly, because of his appearance, nobody else would give Jonah the time of day, but as far as Chase and company were concerned, it was fine. That just meant he was always free to hang with them.

Jonah picked up the lunchmeat from Chase's lap and shoved it all in at once. "Mm…" He said. He swallowed the meat. "Do you think you could make it ham next time instead of turkey? Ham tastes better plain than turkey does."

Joey smirked. "Sure thing."

"So, what's wrong?" Amy pressed Chase. Amy was Joey's new girlfriend. Marsha had gotten mad at Joey for burping too much, and for not being as classy as she would like him to be so she had left him for a prep school boy who was too prim and proper for Joey to ever want to be like. As far as Joey was concerned, it was all right. Amy was a cute, curly haired blonde who look-wise reminded him of Drew Barrymore in the _Wedding Singer_. She was sweet and innocent—even more so than Claire was. He liked that for a change. "You can tell us. We won't tell anyone."

Chase sighed. He did want to tell someone. He needed to get it off his chest. He couldn't dare tell his dad. It would only make it worse. "If I tell you guys, you have to promise not to tell anyone else."

Jonah snorted. "I won't tell. I don't have any friends besides you guys. Who would I tell?"

"You know whatever you tell me stays between us and whomever else you chose to share it with," Claire said, still latching onto his arm. "Are you sick?"

Chase shook his head. "Not physically anyway."

"Look, I'm not going to tell. I'm good at keeping secrets!" Ciara promised him.

Chase looked at Theo, Joey, and Amy.

Amy shook her head. "I told you I won't tell. I'd never betray a friend's confidence."

"I'm good at keeping secrets too!" Theo promised.

Chase raised an eyebrow at him.

"I am!" Theo insisted.

"I don't know. If it's juicy, it would be a shame not to tell. After all, a secret's no fun unless you tell someone, right?" Joey joked.

Amy elbowed him hard in the ribs just as Ciara kicked him hard in the shin from under the table.

"Ouch! I was kidding! Sheesh!" Joey said, rubbing his shin with one hand and his arm with the other. "Women! If they hit men, they're justified. If men hit women, we're scum. Double standards!"

"Joey are you going to tell or not?" Chase snapped; annoyed.

"Go ahead, Dude! Chill! I promise I won't tell a soul," Joey said.

Chase sighed. "I went to my dad's place last night. He gave me a key for whenever I want to stay there. I wanted to see how his Valentine's Day date went with Hope."

"Your dad went on a date with Hope?" Joey asked. "What about Rafe?"

Ciara rolled her eyes. "It was for charity. He won the bid on her for the charity auction."

"I bet that was kind of awkward seeing as they used to be married then he tried to strangle her. I'm surprised the guy was even allowed to bid on her!" Joey said.

Chase shot him a dirty look. "He only did that because my life was threatened if he didn't do it. Anyway, do you want to hear what happened or not?"

Joey held his hands up in defense. "Again, chill, Dude. So what happened to make you so ill?"

"As I was saying, I used my spare key to get into my dad's apartment and I heard him and Hope… I heard my dad and Hope…" Chase trailed off, unable to say it.

"Heard them what?" Amy asked in almost a whisper, her eyes trained on Chase. She looked very invested in his story.

"He heard them having a farting contest! What do you think?" Jonah asked. "The fumes are what made him so sick."

Theo burst out laughing, as did Joey. They both high-fived Jonah.

Claire, Ciara, and Amy rolled their eyes.

"I wish it was something as cool as that!" Chase said. He smiled for just a second until he remembered what he had actually heard. He felt his cheeks flushing with embarrassment. "I heard them having sex, okay?"

Ciara's eyes grew cold. "No way! My mom isn't a cheater. She would never cheat on Rafe! Stop lying! It's so not cool."

Chase shot her a look. "Why would I lie about that? Why would I look this sick if I didn't really see it? When I came into the apartment, I heard a faint noise and went down the hall to investigate having no idea at first what the sound was. Their bedroom is at the end of the hall. They had left their bedroom door open. I looked away as soon as I saw them, but it was already too late. I know what I saw, and from the sounds of it, mom was quite enjoying it, and Rafe was the last thing on her mind." Chase realized what he had just said and felt another wave of nausea hit. "Thank God they didn't notice me. I turned around and got the hell out of there."

No one said a word. They didn't know what to say.

"So now I have that disgusting image forever burned into my eyes, and I have the disgusting sounds forever burned into my ears. _Now_ can you understand why I'm so sick?" Chase asked.

"It should make you happy! It's exactly what you wanted—your parents back together," Claire said.

"It didn't mean I wanted to see or hear the reunion!" Chase muttered.

"Ciara, now _you_ look sick. Are you okay? I know how much you like Rafe," Theo said to her.

Ciara nodded. "Even if she did sleep with Aiden, I'm sure she's regretting it. She loves Rafe. She's not going to leave him for the man who tried to kill her."

"We'll see about that! She was extremely into my dad last night," Chase said, trying to say it without thinking about it. It only worked slightly.

"More like your dad was extremely into your mom!" Joey said.

Theo and Jonah both laughed, and high-fived him.

"Guys shut up!" Chase chastised. "I do not need that image embedded even more into my brain, thank you." He turned to Ciara. "Please don't tell them I saw them!"

"I won't. It didn't mean anything anyway. She'll be back with Rafe, and none of it will matter. You'll see," Ciara said.

The bell rang, signaling the end of their lunch break. They all got up and headed to their classes.

Chase followed behind Ciara. He hoped she was wrong. He knew it would break his dad's heart if Hope still stayed with Rafe after what had happened last night. He guessed he'd just have to try to persuade Hope to stay with Aiden. He didn't know how he was going to do that, but he'd think of something

*This love came back to me.*

Ciara pouted all through chemistry, and would have started an explosion by mixing the wrong chemicals together had her lab partner not been watching.

"Ciara, please concentrate on what you're doing! I don't need my eyebrows burned off, thank you very much!" her partner chastised.

"Sorry!" Ciara apologized. She couldn't believe her mom had cheated—with Aiden of all people! She had to stop her mother from making the biggest mistake of her life. She had to make sure that Hope realized that Rafe was the one for her; not Aiden. She didn't know how she was going to do that, but she knew she'd think of something. However, right now she had to concentrate on the project at hand. After all, her lab partner was already highly lacking in the looks department. The last thing the poor girl needed was a missing eyebrow or two to make her look even worse than she already did.

*This love came back to me.*

"Hope, where were you last night if you weren't at Jen's?" Rafe repeated.

Hope had hesitated when he asked her the first time. She didn't know if she should tell him the truth or not. She didn't want to lose him. She wanted to be with Aiden, but now that she knew Rafe really hadn't cheated on her, she didn't want to lose Rafe. She couldn't hurt him or risk losing him by letting him know the truth.

"Hope, just answer the question. Please!" Rafe said, sounding a little angry and annoyed.

Hope sighed. "I was with Aiden. After I saw you kissing Lani last night, I was so hurt that I ran off to be with Aiden. We kissed…a _lot_."

Rafe clenched his fists together. "I'll kill him!" He got up off the couch and started storming toward the door.

"Rafe, no! Stop!" Hope quickly got up off the couch and ran over to him. She placed a hand over his shoulder and turned him around. "Don't blame Aiden. I'm the one that initiated it."

Rafe snorted. "Yeah, and I bet he was so quick to pull away," he said sarcastically.

Hope nodded. "He was! In fact, he told me I should talk to you before I did anything I regretted. He said it might not be what I thought it was."

Rafe rolled his eyes. "How noble! It didn't stop him from kissing you, apparently." He rubbed his mouth with his hand. "I can't believe this! I can't believe you'd—" He cut himself off and took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. "Did you sleep with him?" he asked, looking Hope in the eyes.

His eyes were so cold and harsh, Hope noticed. Not that he didn't have a right to be angry. He did, she knew. She shook her head. "No. We almost did. We had gone back to his place, but I backed out before things got out of control. I went back home. It was late, and I figured you'd already be sleeping. I went out for coffee early this morning—alone—to work up the nerve to tell you what I did. That is why I wasn't home when you got here."

Rafe nodded at her clothes. "Why are you still dressed in your outfit from last night then?"

Hope sighed, the Walter Scott quote from his poem _Marmion_ popping into her head. " _Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive!"_ She ignored it and came up with another lie. "I was honestly just so tired last night that I fell asleep in this before I could change. Then, this morning I was feeling too down to bother changing."

Rafe was still angry. "This morning you were feeling too down or too guilty?"

Hope looked down at her feet. "A little bit of both, but mainly guilty."

Rafe nodded. "Well, good because you should!"

She looked at Rafe her hands on his chest. "Rafe, I promise you, I never would have cheated had I not thought you had cheated on me first!" True she had kissed Aiden before, but Rafe didn't need to know that either.

Rafe stepped away from her and shook his head. "I still can't believe you did this! I can't believe you just decided to assume the worst of me and ran off with Aiden! The Hope I know would have always made sure what she saw was really what she saw. For Pete's sake, Hope, you're a cop! It's what you do for a living—get all your facts straight before you go passing judgment!"

Hope had tears in her eyes when she looked at Rafe now. "I know and I am _so_ sorry! If I could take it back or make it up to you I would!" She hung her head in shame. She felt even guiltier for still lying to him, but if he got this angry over thinking she had simply made out with Aiden, she couldn't imagine how angry he'd be if he knew she had actually slept with Aiden! That was why Rafe could never find out the truth. She looked up at him. "What I did was completely unforgivable. I understand if you never want to see me again." She sniffled, and wiped her eyes with her fingers.

Rafe looked at her, his expression softening a bit. "Do you still have feelings for Aiden, or was the kissing just to get back at me for kissing Lani?"

Hope looked at him. "I thought last night that I had feelings for him, but then I realized I love you now. All I could think about on the way home was that I didn't want to lose you. All I can think about today is how much I love you, and how much I don't want to lose you!"

Rafe sighed. He then slowly walked over to Hope and took her in his arms. "All right. I'm going to forgive you. But, Hope, I mean it this time. I want you to stay away from Aiden. I get that you need to be around him to deal with stuff pertaining to Chase. I also get that Salem is a small town and you're bound to bump into each other here and there. But if you and I are going to work, I can't have you hanging out with him just the two of you. I can't deal with you two being friends. From now on, all you two are to each other is exes who occasionally have to get together to deal with anything that comes up pertaining to Chase, whether it be school, or other Chase related issues. You can't go running back to Aiden and making out with him every time we have a fight. I'm not going to have to worry about that. All right?"

Hope nodded. "Anything. Anything you want just so long as you forgive me."

Rafe smiled. He kissed the top of her head. "Consider yourself forgiven then."

Hope let out a cry of happiness. "Thank you so much!" She kissed him passionately on the mouth. "I promise to never ever cheat on you again!"

Rafe grinned. "I should hope not!"

"So, does that offer to marry you still stand?" Hope asked with a smirk and an eyebrow raised.

Rafe nodded. "Always."

"Then I say yes!" Hope said.

Rafe smiled big. "Yes?"

Hope nodded. "Yes!"

Rafe cried out in happiness, then grabbed the ring and slipped it on her left ring finger.

Hope admired the ring on her finger, then jumped into his arms and kissed him. "I love it so much! I love _you_ so much!"

"And I love _you_ so much!" Rafe told her.

Hope moaned, and they kissed.

"You just made me the happiest man on earth!" he told her.

"Show me how happy," Hope ordered, kissing his neck.

Rafe was the one to moan this time. He picked her up, then kissed her the whole way up the stairs to her bedroom.


	20. S1E20

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 1: Episode 20_**

The next day, Hope knocked on Aiden's door. She hoped she was able to catch him before he went off to his community service. She knew she wasn't supposed to be alone with him, but she had to make exception this once. She had to tell him it was over between them—for good this time.

Aiden opened the door wearing pants but no shirt. He grinned. "Hey Baby! Finally, you're here. I have to go to my community service soon, but I have a few minutes. I missed you yesterday. You left without saying goodbye then, didn't return any of my texts." He went to kiss her, but she turned her head. He frowned. "What's wrong?"

Hope looked away. She really wished he'd put a shirt on. He was not making saying goodbye to him easy. She sighed, then looked at him. "Can I come in? I need to talk to you about something."

Aiden nodded and stepped back, allowing her in. "Sure." He closed the door behind her.

"Thanks." Hope sighed. "Aiden, I'm so sorry, but last night was a mistake. I never should have slept with you. As it turns out, after I turned away from Rafe and Lani last night, Rafe pulled away from Lani and set her straight. I had left too soon to see that part. He had only kissed her out of instinct."

Aiden rolled his eyes. "Hope, please! When a man kisses another woman, it's never just out of instinct. If he had no feelings at all for her, then he would have pushed her away right away."

Hope shook her head. "Don't be ridiculous! Even _you_ told me it might not be what it looked like. It wasn't! Aiden, I'm sorry. I never should have gotten your hopes up that we'd be together again, and I certainly never should have led you on by seeping with you."

Aiden stood there in surprise. "Hope, you said you loved me and wanted me back. You said you didn't regret what we did; that you wanted me too."

Hope shrugged. "That was before I knew that Rafe hadn't cheated on me," she said simply.

"Hope, I know you didn't just sleep with me to get back at Rafe. You know it too! You love me just as much as I love you!" Aiden insisted. "Just admit it!"

Hope shook her head. "I'll admit no such thing! Look, I made a mistake. I shouldn't have said those things to you, and I shouldn't have slept with you. Rafe is the only man I love, and I'm going to marry him."

Aiden's mouth dropped open in surprise. "Excuse me?"

Hope flashed him her ring. "He proposed yesterday morning when I got home. I told him about the kiss. He doesn't know we slept together, and he must never know. Also, I can't hang out with you one on one any longer. I can only see you for Chase related things."

Aiden rolled his eyes. "Oh, give me a break, Hope! Rafe is already being a possessive jerk. You can't honestly be thinking about marrying him. If he's this bad now, imagine how bad he'll be once you're married! The Hope I know would never let a man tell her who she can and cannot see. Heck she wouldn't let _anyone_ tell her that!"

"I think it's only fair of him to ask considering our romantic history and the fact that I cheated with you last night," Hope said coolly.

"As far as he knows we only kissed, so it shouldn't be a big deal," Aiden replied.

"If you ever tell him that we slept together, I will refuse to see you all together. Even if Rafe dumped me, I would still never agree to be with you if he left me because of you. Do I make myself clear?" Hope asked, her tone angry.

Aiden nodded. "Yes, but Hope…" He took her hands in his own. "I know you love me too. You couldn't possibly have faked your feelings for me that night."

Hope felt her defenses weakening. "Okay, I do love you. A part of me always will."

"Well, then don't marry Rafe! Trust me. Marrying him out of guilt is not the way to go. You'll only regret it later and maybe even resent him," Aiden insisted.

Hope was so close to pulling Aiden into her arms and picking up where they had left off that morning, but she just couldn't get herself to. She held her head high. "It's not out of guilt. I love him more than I love you now. He is where my heart belongs."

"Hope, I love you!" Aiden said, tears in his eyes now.

Hope knew she had to be tough. As much as she would hate to, she had to get it through to Aiden in the only way she knew how to get through to him. "I can't be with a man I no longer trust. Are you forgetting you tried to murder me, Aiden?"

Aiden's face fell. "You know why I did that. I was temporarily insane at the thought of Chase being murdered if I didn't. Baby, I would never hurt you like that ever again!"

Hope shook her head. "How do I know that? That morning when you went to the bathroom and said you'd be right back it reminded me of when you went to get my 'surprise' on our wedding night only to come back and try to murder me! It scared me so much I left!"

"Baby, I'm not that man anymore I swear!" Aiden protested.

Hope narrowed her eyes at him. "Yeah, well I didn't think you were then either and look where they got me?"

Aiden was suddenly angry. "This is all Rafe filling your head with lies isn't it? That stupid idiot is trying to make you afraid of me so he's planting the seeds in your head."

Hope was angry now. "Don't even try to bash him in front of me! Rafe didn't fill my head with anything! You're the one that has me scared! This is all because of you and what you tried to do to me, Aiden. At least Rafe never tried to kill me!" Hope hated herself the moment she said those words and saw Aiden's face crumple. Now Aiden would hate her. She was sure of it. But it had to be done to save her relationship with Rafe.

Apparently it had worked, for Aiden walked around Hope and opened the door. He then pointed out the open doorway. "Get out! I'm through with playing games with you. If you want to ruin your life by being with Rafe, then have at it! Just don't come crying back to me when you decide it's not what you really want."

"I'm never going to decide that, so there's no problem. Goodbye, Aiden. Have a nice life." Hope then rushed out of his apartment. She had tears in her eyes, but she wasn't about to let him see her cry. She winced when she heard his door slam behind her.

She pressed the elevator button. "I'm sorry, Aiden, I didn't mean any of it," she whispered to the empty hallway. "But this is for the best." The doors opened, and she stepped onto the elevator. As the doors closed in front of her, she couldn't help but think were also closing the story of her and Aiden.

*This love came back to me.*

Aiden arrived back at the apartment, gently closing the door behind him.

Chase looked up at him from the couch. "Dad, what's wrong?" He had come over to Aiden's after school and did his homework there while he waited for Aiden to return home from community service. He hadn't talked to him since he had seen him in bed with Hope. He had texted with his father, but avoided seeing him until now. He had just needed to wait long enough to not want to throw up when seeing his father. The last thing he had ever wanted to see in his life was his parents naked, but he had seen Hope's naked chest and his father's bare backside. He didn't know if he'd _ever_ get the images out of his head actually, but he knew he couldn't avoid seeing his dad forever. He had decided to just go now and get it over with. However, now that his dad looked so distraught, he felt bad for avoiding him yesterday.

Chase pat the empty spot beside him, hoping that his dad and Hope hadn't started off on the couch.

Aiden sighed, and sat down beside him. "My date with Hope had gone wonderfully. We even…kissed. It wasn't just any kiss either. There were several kisses, each one more passionate than the last."

Chase was grateful his father had left out the sex part. "That's great! So, why are you so sad now?"

"Hope came over to my place this morning and told me that it was all a mistake. She had thought that Rafe had cheated on her, but it turned out to just be a big misunderstanding, so now she regrets sleeping wi—" He cleared his throat. "Kissing me. Rafe proposed to her. She told me she said yes. She is going to marry him."

"Why?" Chase asked in surprise. His heart sank. He couldn't believe what he was hearing! "She must love you still. Otherwise she wouldn't have…kissed you."

"She says she still can't trust me after what I did. She knows I did it for you, but she still doesn't trust me. She even threw it in my face that at least Rafe never tried to kill her," Aiden told Chase.

Chase shook his head. "Well, _that_ was a low blow."

Aiden nodded. "I told her to get out and don't come crying to me when she realizes Rafe isn't who she really wants. I told her I'm done with her mind games. I didn't want to sound so nasty, but she really hurt me with her words, so I felt compelled to give it right back to her." Aiden ran his hand through his hair. "I'm such a jerk."

Chase shook his head. "You're not a jerk, Dad. It's only normal to defend yourself. Anyway, any father would have done the same for their child. Hope of all people should understand protecting her children at all costs."

Aiden shrugged. "Well, apparently, she doesn't. I thought she understood, but she clearly doesn't. She's going to marry Rafe."

Chase raised an eyebrow at him. "You're not just going to give up on her, are you?"

Aiden sighed. "I don't want to, but what can I do?"

"Leave it up to me," Chase said. "I'll think of something." He thought about it for a moment. "I know! I can pretend to be really sick and tell mom that I need both my parents to be with me."

Aiden shook his head. "No, Hope would see right through that. Plus, she'd take you to Kayla, who would tell her that you're perfectly healthy. Besides, I don't want to use our child to get her back. That would be despicable. On top of that, I've already hurt her enough. I suddenly have a better idea."

"What is it?" Chase closed his math book to give his dad his full attention.

"I ran into Lani today, and we had a little talk," Aiden began.

"That cop that won the date with Rafe?" Chase asked.

Aiden nodded. "She has a huge crush on Rafe and Rafe had even kissed her. Hope saw it. That's why Hope thought he had cheated on her. He later told Hope it was just out of instinct, but I highly doubt that. I'm thinking I could go on a date with Lani. Somehow maybe we could arrange it so that Lani and I bump into Hope and Rafe. It just might make Hope jealous enough to get me back on her radar. Heck, it might even make Rafe jealous. It's a little juvenile, but hey it's a plan that could work."

Chase grinned at his father. "You know what? I happen to love that idea! I really think it will work!"

Aiden grinned back at Chase, and they high-fived.

*This love came back to me.*

Meanwhile, Ciara got off the phone with the hostess at Chez Rouge. She had just booked a romantic table for two for Rafe and Hope. She had even planned to stay the night at Claire's to give Hope and Rafe some alone time. She would see to it that Chase stayed either with Aiden or with one of his friends. She was not about to let Aiden take over. No. Her mom belonged with Rafe who made her so happy and would never hurt her. She wasn't going to let one little laps in Hope's judgment ruin that.

She then headed downstairs to where Rafe and Hope were sitting on the couch together grinning sweetly at each other and talking quietly.

"Hey guys! I got a surprise for you," Ciara said, walking around from behind the couch to stand in front of it.

"Really? That's funny, because we've got a surprise for you and Chase too," Hope said with a knowing smile at Rafe, who smiled back at her.

"Me first! I just made dinner reservations for two at six o'clock for you and Rafe. I also will be spending the night at Claire's to give you two some alone time afterwards, if you know what I mean." Ciara winked and them and clicked her tongue.

Rafe grinned as Hope blushed. "That's great!" he said. "Thank you."

Hope smiled. "That is wonderful, Honey! Thank you! It will be the perfect way to celebrate."

"Celebrate what?" Ciara asked.

Before Hope couple reply, Chase came home, looking happy as could be.

"Chase, Honey, you're just in time to hear the surprise!" Hope said.

Chase set his backpack down. "What surprise?" he asked. He suddenly didn't look happy any longer.

Hope stood up and flashed her ring at him and Ciara. "Rafe proposed to me yesterday morning and I said yes! He and I are getting married. We're going to be a family!"

"What? Mom that's great! Oh my gosh! Congratulations, guys!" Ciara ran into her mother's arms and hugged her tightly, then hugged a grinning Rafe who had stood up to receive and return her hug.

Chase, however, was anything but thrilled. He had known what the so called surprise was, but hearing it made it even worse. He crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. "Rafe will never be my family," he said coldly.

"Chase!" Hope scolded.

Rafe nodded. "It's okay. I understand. He still has his dad. He doesn't need me."

"You're damn right I don't!" Chase said angrily. "And neither does my mom!"

"Chase Jennings, you apologize this instant!" Hope scolded.

Chase sighed. "I'm sorry," he said to Rafe without even trying to make it sound sincere.

"Like I said, it's cool. I get it. It's going to take some getting used to," Rafe said to him.

Ciara glared at Chase. "I'm staying with Claire tonight. I suggest you stay with your dad since you love him so much. If not your dad then Jonah or Joey. Even Theo if he'll have you. Mom and Rafe want some alone time after they go to the romantic dinner I booked for them tonight."

Hope sighed. "Ciara…" She shot Ciara a "be nice" look. She then looked at Chase. "You don't have to go somewhere else, Chase. You're welcome to sleep in your own bed."

Chase shook his head. "Thanks, but no thanks! The very last place I want to be tonight is here with you and Rafe while you two…" Instead of finishing his sentence, he headed up to his room. "I'm going to go pack my overnight bag," he grumbled.

When he got to his room, he shut and locked his bedroom door, then quietly called Claire.

Claire picked up almost right away.

"Claire, do you know where Ciara plans for Rafe and Hope to go to dinner tonight?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, Chez Rouge," Claire replied. "At six."

Chase grinned. "Perfect! Thank you. Don't tell Ciara I asked you or that you told me. All right?"

"I can't. Then she'd be mad I told. I wasn't supposed to tell you, but I'm team Aiden. Besides, you're my boyfriend. I'm always going to be on your side," Claire said sweetly.

"You're the best!" Chase said.

"Don't you forget it!" Claire said cheerily.

Chase laughed. "I won't. I'll be at Joey's tonight if he lets me, so call me on my cell later if you need me. All right?"

"All right. Have a good night if I don't talk to you later," Claire said.

"You too. Goodnight," Chase replied.

"Goodnight," Claire said before hanging up.

Chase hung up the phone, then quickly dialed his father to tell him the details.

*This love came back to me.*

Aiden hung up the phone. Chase has just called him. The plan was working out already! Hope and Rafe just happened to have a date at Chez Rouge tonight. He had needed them to be somewhere where they could run into him and Lani, and here this opportunity had fallen right into his lap! It was like a sign that he and Hope were meant to be.

He quickly dialed Lani's number, glad that they had exchanged numbers the morning before over coffee.

She picked up on the third ring. "Hello?"

Aiden grinned. "Lani! Hey! It's Aiden Jennings. You know what we were talking about yesterday? About working on Hope falling for me and Rafe falling for you?"

"Yes…" Lani said hesitantly, clearly unsure of where this was going.

"Well, I know just how we can make that happen! Or at least make them jealous," Aiden continued.

"How's that?" Lani asked, sounding skeptical.

"What are you doing at six o'clock tonight?" Aiden asked her.

"Nothing. I get out of work at five. Why?" she asked.

"How would you like a free dinner at Chez Rouge on me?" Aiden asked. "Rafe and Hope have a date there tonight, and you and I are going to go pretending to be Salem's newest it couple. Rafe will hate seeing you with me, whom he thinks is so dangerous, and Hope will hate that you're dating another man of hers."

Lani was quiet for just a moment before she responded. "You know what? That sounds just crazy enough to work!"

Aiden smiled. "I knew you'd see things my way. I'll meet you there at six."

"I'll be there," Lani said, her tone chipper.


	21. S1E21

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 1: Episode 21_**

Chase would be staying at Joey's so everything was going according to plan for Ciara. Little did she know that Aiden had a plan of his own that was also going according to plan.

Aiden looked in the mirror of the used car that he had just gotten. Business was doing well. Things were finally starting to pick up moneywise, and he was finally able to afford is own car. It was just a used 2014 blue Taurus but the mileage was good and it got him around. He still wouldn't consider himself rich, but he was getting back to the point where he could live comfortably.

He looked at the dashboard clock. It was time to meet Lani. He headed into the restaurant, and was happy when she walked in no more than thirty seconds after he did.

"Good evening, Miss Lani! You're looking quite beautiful tonight!" He took her hand and kissed it. "As usual."

Lani smirked. "Good thing you added the as usual. And thank you. You're looking particularly handsome tonight as well."

They grinned at each other.

Lani was wearing a sparkly low cut red dress with sparkly red heels. Aiden was wearing a pair of khakis with a white shirt, black blazer, and red silk tie. He wore black dress shoes. He had texted her to see what color she was wearing so that they could color coordinate. He knew it just might annoy Hope and therefore tick her off even more.

Aiden gave their name to the hostess and they were seated at a nice table for two.

Shortly after, in walked Hope and Rafe. Aiden noticed how she looked amazing in a tight black leather dress. He felt jealousy course through his veins at the thought of Rafe being with her tonight. Seeing Rafe's over Hope's lower back made Aiden want to punch him in the face. Rafe was wearing a black and white suit like a groom would wear to a wedding. That made Aiden want to punch him even harder.

Rafe gave their names to the hostess—at least, that's what it looked like to Aiden.

Aiden watched them until Hope seemed to sense that he was watching them.

Their eyes met.

*This love came back to me.*

Hope couldn't believe it when she saw Aiden and Lani sitting together at a comfy looking table for two. "What are _they_ doing here of all places? And what are they doing together?" Hope muttered to herself.

"Hm?" Rafe asked, overhearing her.

Hope pulled him close. "Aiden's here with Lani right over there."

"Where?" Rafe asked. He looked around and spotted Lani and Rafe sitting together and smiling at each other.

"What the hell?" he asked. "Since when are those two together? Do they even know each other?"

Hope nodded. "They ran into each other a couple times for work related things, but that's about it."

"Do you want to go someplace else?" Rafe asked her.

Hope shook her head. "No. Ciara made our reservation for here. I wouldn't want to make her feel bad by us eating somewhere else. There's no reason you and I can't still enjoy our dinner!" She smiled up at Rafe and took his hand in her own.

Rafe grinned at her. "You're absolutely right." He kissed her sweetly on the lips.

"All right! Right this way," the hostess said cheerily.

They followed the hostess while still holding hands. She led them to a table for two only about three feet away from Aiden and Lani's table, and directly across from them.

"Oh, hey! Funny bumping into you guys here," Lani said when they walked by their table.

"Hey," Rafe said to her. He ignored Aiden completely. "Why are you here with him?" He nodded at Aiden without looking at him.

"Hello to you too, Rafe," Aiden said sarcastically.

"We're here on a date. Since you didn't want me, I decided to try someone new. I bumped into Aiden at TBD the other day. We got go talking, and he asked me out," Lani said with a smile.

Aiden and Hope didn't even acknowledge each other.

"Not that it's any of your business," Aiden said to Rafe.

"You know what? You can shove it!" Rafe said to Aiden.

"Just go back to your date," Aiden snapped.

"You're right. I think I will go back to my _fiancé_ ," Rafe said.

Aiden had a pained look on his face.

Rafe smiled smugly at him. "That's right. She and I are celebrating our engagement tonight. I guess your kisses weren't enough for her to come running back to you. Sorry about that," Rafe said, his voice full of mockery and sarcasm. He turned to "Lani. I'd watch out if I were you. You can do so much better than this loser. Just make sure he doesn't try to kill you too!" Rafe then went back to his table, where Hope was already waiting for him and looking really uncomfortable.

"Great! Just great," Hope said as Rafe helped her get her jacket off.

"We can ask to sit somewhere else," Rafe said to her.

"No, it's fine. As far as I'm concerned, they aren't even here," Hope replied.

"Are you sure?" Rafe asked.

Hope nodded. "I'm sure. Let's just enjoy our dinner and pretend they aren't even here."

"Sounds good." Rafe hung up her jacket on the back on her chair, then held out her chair for her and gently pushed her in after she sat down in it.

He then took his own seat.

"Your server will be right over," the hostess said kindly.

Rafe and Hope thanked her, then she went off to seat the next guests.

They looked over their menus.

"We have to order a bottle of the finest Champaign to celebrate our engagement," Rafe said to her.

Hope smiled. "Of course!"

Lani laughed, and they both looked over.

Aiden was grinning as Lani reached across the table and put her hand on his arm.

"You're hilarious!" Lani said.

"I'm glad I could make you laugh," Aiden told her. "You have a beautiful laugh."

Lani smiled a shy smile and looked away.

"She can do better than Aiden. I hope she knows to be careful. I don't want what happened to you happen to her," Rafe grumbled.

Hope shook her head. "I doubt he's a threat. He's not that man anymore. However, I am annoyed that Lani sure seems to have a thing for my men."

Rafe raised an eyebrow at her. "First of all, I still think he is still the same man he always was. Second, what do you mean by 'another one of your men'? Aiden isn't your man anymore."

Hope blushed, and gently pushed some hair behind her ear. "True. I just mean I dated him and married him in the past. Now she wants him probably just because I had him."

Rafe scrunched his eyebrows together. "Please! You were only married to Aiden for a couple of hours before he tried to kill you. I don't really count that as being married to him."

Hope looked away. She hated remembering that night.

Rafe gently took her hand from across the table. "Hey. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought that night up. Let's just concentrate on you, me, tonight, and celebrating our engagement!"

Hope smiled at him. "Sounds good to me!"

Their waiter came then, and they ordered their Champaign, then went back to looking over their menus and deciding what they wanted to eat.

*This love came back to me.*

"Mm… So good!" Lani said as she took a bite of Aiden's parmesan chicken that he was feeding to her. She licked her lips, then held out a forkful of lasagna to him. "Try mine."

Aiden let her feed him. "Mm… Delicious!" he said.

"You don't think this is too much?" Lani asked through clenched teeth just loud enough for Aiden to hear her.

"Nope! I can see through my peripheral view that they're staring at us," Aiden said just loud enough for Lani to hear and also through clenched teeth. So far the classic pretending the other said something funny and the "pretend flirting" seemed to be doing the trick. "I know it's bugging them both." Aiden said.

Lani grinned, still keeping up looks. "I just hope it's enough. I mean, the plan sounded good at first, but now that we're doing it I suddenly feel so juvenile—like I'm back in high school again."

"It will work I promise!" Aiden assured her. Though, deep down he secretly felt the same way she did. Even so, he refused to give up. After all, he didn't exactly have a plan B unless he went with the whole Chase faking an illness thing. "Anyway, I have another trick up my sleeve. I requested that they play mine and Hope's song. Once she sees you and me dancing to it, she'll be livid." At least, he hoped she would be.

"They just happened to have your song?" Lani asked.

"I dropped off the CD earlier on my way to my community service," Aiden told her with a smile and a wink.

Lani grinned. "You really did think of everything, didn't you?"

Aiden grinned even wider in response.

*This love came back to me.*

"I wanna smack that smug smirk right of his face!" Rafe grumbled. He and Hope were both looking at Aiden and Lani as they smiled at each other.

"I wonder what they're talking about. They are talking so low," Hope said more to herself than to Rafe. "And why were they feeding each other? I'd say that's a bit forward for a first date. At least, in my opinion."

Rafe looked away. "Watching them is ruining my night. Let's just go back to concentrating on you, me, and our engagement. What do you say?" Rafe asked reaching across the table and placing his hands over hers.

Hope smiled at him. "Okay, sounds good." Even so, she couldn't help but feel a little twinge of annoyance at Lani mixed with the uncomfortable feeling of seeing Aiden on a date with another woman.

After they finished their meal, their waiter came over to clear their plates. "Would you two like any dessert?" he asked.

Hope nodded. "I can't come here without having a slice of Maggie's chocolate cake!"

"We can just split a slice," Rafe told her.

Hope shook her head. "Sorry, but when it comes to Maggie's chocolate cake, I'd like my own."

Rafe laughed. "All right. Make that two slices of chocolate cake then, please!" he said to the waiter.

"Coming right up!" the waiter said.

Aiden and Lani were also ordering dessert, Hope noticed as she side glanced at their table. Their waitress took their order then left.

Suddenly, Hope heard hers and Aiden's song playing over the speakers. She shivered as she remembered how she and Aiden had danced to it at the gala that they had fallen in love at, and then later on their first anniversary of that date. She remembered the romantic night Aiden had planned for her on their anniversary. She blushed as she remembered making love with him that night, and then again the next morning. Then showering with him after breakfast…

"How sweet!" Rafe said sarcastically, distracting her from her memories. "Now they're dancing together."

Hope looked over to see Aiden dancing close with Lani, his hands over her lower back, and her arms draped over his shoulders. She felt her blood start to boil. How dare he dance with Lani to their song? Well, two could play at that game!

She stood up and extended her hand to Rafe. "Come on. Let's dance."

Rafe looked at her hand with hesitation, then stood up. "All right. I'm not that great of a dancer, but I'm up for trying!"

Hope took his hand and practically dragged him out to the dancefloor right near Aiden and Lani.

"Woah, slow down! The music is non-stop here. We have plenty of time," Rafe teased.

Hope draped her arms over his shoulders. "Sorry. I'm just so eager to dance with my husband-to-be!"

Rafe grinned. "And I do love dancing with my wife-to-be!"

Hope noticed Aiden glancing at her and Rafe. As soon as he noticed she had noticed him, he turned his attention back to Lani.

Aiden and Lani swayed back and forth together, their eyes locked. They looked in love.

Hope gently stroked Rafe's cheek, then buried her face in his neck and rested her head on his shoulder while they danced.

Aiden watched Hope with Rafe and he wanted to throttle Rafe. He inched Lani over toward them and accidentally on purpose bumped into them, causing Hope to look up and over at them.

"Sorry. I lost my balance for a second there," Aiden said.

"I bet!" Rafe said; not buying it.

Hope and Aiden's eyes met as they continued to dance with their partners. Their eyes stayed on each other's for the rest of the song.

When the song ended, Rafe kissed Hope passionately on the lips. Hope, knowing Aiden was watching, kissed Rafe back just as passionately.

*This love came back to me.*

Aiden was debating on whether or not he should kiss Lani. He didn't want to tick her off. However, Lani surprised him by making his decision for him and kissing him passionately on the lips as well.

Aiden broke the kiss, looking at Lani in surprise.

Lani leaned close to him and whispered in his ear, "Just go with it."

Aiden, grateful, pulled her close, and kissed her passionately back.

*This love came back to me.*

As Hope watched Aiden and Lani kiss, she was absolutely furious! She almost said something, but Rafe took her hand before she could.

"Cake is here," Rafe said to her, nodding toward their table.

Hope nodded, not trusting herself to speak yet.

They all headed back to their tables where dessert was waiting for them all.

"She only wants him because I used to date him. I bet if Bo were still alive, she'd go after him too!" Hope muttered. She stabbed her cake and forced the bite into her mouth before chewing angrily.

"Who cares if she dates him? You don't want him anymore." Rafe ate a bite of his cake. "The only reason I don't like it is because Aiden will only end up hurting her. I don't want to see her get hurt. She doesn't deserve to be."

"Yeah, well, neither does Aiden. She's just using him." Hope angrily ate another bite of her cake, barely tasting it.

"More like he's using her," Rafe grumbled.

They ate their slices of cake in silence for a moment.

Hope watched as Aiden and Lani, smiling at each other as if they had been in love forever, took turns feeding each other the chocolate cake slice they were sharing. It made her sick!

Lani accidentally got a piece of cake on Aiden's nose. She flicked it off and it ended up hitting the back of a bald waiter's head. Lani and Aiden quickly played it cool, acting as if they were just a normal couple deep in conversation as the waiter looked around to try to spot who had done it. Once the waiter had looked away again and had gone back to what he was doing, Aiden and Lani snickered together.

Hope rolled her eyes.

"Have you been listening to anything I've just been saying to you?" Rafe asked her.

Hope looked at him, blinking in confusion. "I'm sorry what?"

"You know what? Never mind. I can see you're too occupied with other things to listen," Rafe said a little annoyed.

"I'm sorry," Hope said, not knowing what else to say.

The waiter came with their check.

Hope noticed Rafe had eaten all of his cake, but she had barely eaten any of hers. She quickly finished her cake, side-eyeing Aiden and Lani's table. Aiden was paying his and Lani's bill.

"Can I get you anything else?" their waiter asked.

"No thanks. Here you go. Keep the change," Rafe said, paying with the cash Ciara had given him earlier for their meal and tip. She had insisted on paying for their dinner as her engagement present to them.

"Thank you, Sir. You two have a good rest of your night!" the waiter said with a polite nod.

Hope and Rafe thanked him and wished him a good night as well, then he left.

Rafe didn't bother to help Hope with her coat. However, Hope noticed Aiden helping Lani with her jacket.

Hope put on her own jacket feeling rejected all around.

"All set!" Aiden said once Lani's coat was on.

"Thank you! Also thank you for dinner," Lani said, batting her eyelashes at him and smiling. Aiden smiled at her, then took her hand and kissed it. "The pleasure was mine."

Lani giggled.

They started walking toward the door, but stopped halfway between their tables.

"Wait. Would you like to come back with me for a nightcap?" Aiden asked Lani.

Lani grinned. "I would love that so much, but I promised Theo I'd spend some time with him tonight. Can we raincheck it for tomorrow night instead?" Lani stopped and said seductively by his ear, but still loud enough for Hope to hear, "I'll have all night then."

Aiden shivered. "Sounds like a plan."

Hope couldn't take it any longer. She jumped up from the table, and closed in the space between them. She turned to Lani. "He made out with me the other night, you know."

Lani looked at her with surprise. "Excuse me?"

Hope nodded. "That's right! He was all over me. He wanted to make love to me, but I stopped it since I'm in love with another man."

"And you're telling me this why?" Lani asked, an eyebrow raised and her arms crossed over her chest.

"I just think you should know that he's still madly in love with me and is only settling for you because he can't have me." Hope crossed her arms over her chest, and raised an eyebrow of her own.

Aiden looked at Lani, his eyes wide. "That's so not true! Well, it's true I made out with her, and that I wanted it to go further, but it's not true that I'm only settling for you. You're a beautiful, funny, and intelligent woman. I really wanted to go on this date with you tonight, and I enjoyed it even more than I thought I would." He turned to Hope. "You made it perfectly clear to me that you want nothing to do with me anymore, Hope. So please, just let me move on in peace without you interfering!" he snapped.

Hope narrowed her eyes at him. "Fine! Be on your way then. Just beware that she's using you Aiden. She only wants you because I had you. First it was Rafe, and now it's you." She glared at Lani, her arms still crossed over her chest. "She's a real piece of work!"

Lani sighed. "Hope, you're being ridiculous! It's just like I told you earlier. We happened to run into each other at TBD, we talked, realized we had a lot in common, and decided to go out on a date. I was barely even aware than he used to date you."

" _Right_ ," Hope said sarcastically, not believing word that came out of her mouth. "Or that we were married right?"

Rafe gently took Hope's arm before Lani or Aiden could respond. He looked at Lani. "You take care of yourself, and watch out for him. All right? I don't want to see you getting hurt." He looked at Aiden. "And you! If you hurt her, I will hunt you down and you _will_ answer to me."

Aiden smirked smugly at him. "I would never hurt her for one. For two, you don't scare me, Rafe."

"Then you're even more of a fool than I thought you were," Rafe said even smugger back.

Aiden ignored Rafe and turned to Hope. "You meant it when you said you didn't want me, right?"

Hope looked at him, trying not to tear-up. She nodded. "Yes." She latched onto Rafe's arm. "I did."

"Aiden, I better get home now. Theo hates when I keep him waiting. But I shall see you tomorrow night after work, all right?" Lani asked, looking into Aiden's eyes.

Aiden nodded.

Lani then kissed him softly on the lips.

Aiden returned her kiss.

"I really had fun tonight. Thank you," Lani purred.

"So did I. And thank _you_! Goodnight," Aiden said to her.

Lani smiled. She gave his cheek a kiss. "Goodnight." She nodded at Hope and Rafe. "Hope, Rafe, goodnight."

"Goodnight!" Rafe said.

Hope ignored her, and instead chose to shoot mental daggers with her eyes at Lani until Lani had officially left the restaurant.

"Let's go," Rafe said quietly to Hope.

Hope left, but looked longingly at Aiden, who was watching her with longing as well.

Hope sighed. What a mess she had gotten herself into she knew.

Rafe helped Hope into the car, then shut her door and headed around to the driver's side and got in.

Hope couldn't help but think about Aiden again, dancing with Lani to their song. She thought of him laughing with Lani, feeding and being fed by her, and him kissing her. She felt angry, sad, and sick all in one.

"Hope, you're doing it again," Rafe said.

"Hm?" Hope looked over at Rafe. "Doing what?"

"You're not listening to me when I'm talking to you," he told her.

"Not true! I am," she insisted.

"Then what did I just say to you?" Rafe tested her.

Hope hesitated. She tried to think about what Rafe could have said to her, but all she could think of was making love with Aiden Valentine's Day night. She sighed, and looked at Rafe again. "I'm sorry, Rafe. I can't concentrate tonight. I don't know if it's something I ate or what, but I'm suddenly not feeling well. I'm wiped out too. I think I just want to go to bed alone tonight and try to sleep off whatever this is. Do you mind if we take a raincheck on our night together?"

Rafe looked disappointed, but nodded. "Sure. Do you want me to get you anything first? Some stomach medicine or antacids before I drop you home?"

Hope shook her head. "I love you for asking, and thank you, but I have it all at home."

"All right then." Rafe then drove Hope the short distance home.

"I'll make it up to you. I'm just so out of it all the sudden. I hope it wasn't anything I ate, or the flu or anything," Hope said.

"You'll have to go see Kayla if you still feel sick tomorrow," Rafe told her.

Hope nodded. "I will."

"Do you want me to walk you in?" Rafe asked her.

Hope shook her head. "That's okay. I can at least do that!" She smiled and winked at him. She then kissed him sweetly on the lips. "Thank you for understanding."

"Of course! Feel better, and when she's back, thank Ciara again for everything!" Rafe said. He gently stroked her cheek.

"I will. Goodnight," Hope replied.

"Goodnight. I'll call you in the morning," Rafe said.

They kissed once more, then Hope got out of the car, shut the door, and then headed into the house. She watched out the window as Rafe pulled out of the driveway and left for his home.

*This love came back to me.*

Aiden, meanwhile, was sitting on his bed in his apartment, wearing the usual bed attire of boxers and a tee shirt. Sad and depressed, he buried his face in his hands. He honestly didn't know what to think about how the plan had gone. At some points in the date, it really seemed to be working. However, Hope had still insisted she didn't want him. She hadn't even stuck up for him when Rafe had called him foolish, yet she had been quick to defend Rafe before when Aiden had accused Rafe of filling her head with lies. Maybe it really was over.

He got a text alert. He looked down at it. It was from Lani.

 _Looks like our date went great! Did you see and hear how jealous Rafe was when he warned you not to hurt me? He so wants me! Hope was obviously really jealous too the way she went off on you. We got to keep this up. It's totally working!_

Aiden texted her back.

 _Yes! He certainly was jealous. We'll definitely have to do this again soon. Thanks for all the help. –A_

With a sigh, Aiden then turned his phone off, and set it on the bedside stand. Honestly, he didn't know if keeping it up would work or not. He would continue to date Lani for a little bit more, but if it still didn't work, he didn't know what else he could do to win Hope back. He supposed he could ride in on a motorcycle to crash hers and Rafe's wedding, but it had already been done by Bo. Besides, he had no idea how to drive a motorcycle. He figured with his luck he'd just end up flying off it and breaking his neck!

Suddenly, Aiden heard a knock on his door. Wondering who it could be at this hour, get got up and headed to the door. Maybe Chase had decided to sleep there instead of Joey's and had forgotten his key, Aiden guessed.

He peered out the peephole and was surprised to see Hope standing on the other side of the door.

"Hope?" he asked quietly to the empty room. _What the heck is she doing here?_ he wondered. Was she there to snap at him about the date, or was she here because maybe his plan had worked after all? He unlocked the door and began to open it. He guessed he was about to find out!


	22. S1E22

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 1: Episode 22_**

Aiden opened the door. "What are you doing here? I thought you weren't allowed to see me alone anymore," he said semi coldly.

Without a word, Hope pushed herself into the apartment, then shut, locked, and dead bolted the door behind her.

"Hope what are you doing?" Aiden asked. He didn't know whether he should be annoyed or alarmed. Right now he was a little of both.

Before he could think on it any longer, Hope pulled him close by the t-shirt, and kissed him passionately.

Aiden cried out in surprise, but kissed her back instinctively.

"You said you didn't want me anymore," he said a little dazed from her kiss.

Hope pressed her forehead against his. "I lied. You're mine and mine alone. Got it? You're not Lani's or anyone else's. You all _mine_."

He went from being annoyed and alarmed to straight up turned on. "You know I'm all yours, but you're clearly not all mine. I can't be your backup every time you have a fight with Rafe. It's not fair to do to me. I can't make love to you or even kiss you anymore if you're just going to leave me again. My heart can't take it, Hope." It pained him to say it, but he had to protect his heart. It wasn't that Hope wasn't worth fighting for. She was. But if he was in a losing battle, he wanted to leave while he still had his dignity.

Hope shook her head. "No. It's different this time. I'm going to break it off with him. It's you I want. I can't deny my feelings for you any longer!"

Aiden shook his head. "That sounds nice, Hope, but with all due respect, I've heard it all before—just the other day in fact. Then you came back to me engaged to Rafe and told me we couldn't even hang out together alone anymore."

"But I really mean it this time! Look. I'll prove it." Hope took off her engagement ring from Rafe and headed to the bathroom.

"Hope, what are you doing?" Aiden asked wearily as he followed her into the bathroom.

"I'm going to flush this down the toilet to prove to you that you're the one I want to be with and not Rafe," Hope replied.

Aiden caught her arm before she could ditch it. He took the ring from her and set it on the sink. "That was an expensive ring I'm sure. Don't do that."

"I'm just trying to prove to you how much I love you." Hope took him in her arms. "I love you in a way that I never loved Rafe. I was with Rafe because we were such close friends and partners and he was reliable. I knew without a doubt I could trust him."

Aiden pulled back again. "And here we are again back at the part where you can't trust me."

Hope shook her head and pulled him close to her again. "Aiden, that's not what I meant! What I'm trying to say is… Yes. I love Rafe, but not in the way a fiancé should love her fiancé. I loved him because I felt it was the safe choice; like it was the right choice since it made sense and he had done so much for me. But you… Aiden, I love you in every way that counts. I love you exactly the way a fiancé should love a fiancé, or in our case how a lover should love a lover. I was a little scared of you at first, but now I realize I was just being stupid. I trust you." She rested her forehead against his again. "I trust you completely."

"I'm sorry I ever lost your trust in me to begin with. I was just a jerk! Such a total idiot. I know you deserve better than me," Aiden admitted.

"For me, there is no better than you. I love you Aiden, and I need you. Please say you still love me and need me too," Hope pleaded.

"You know I do," Aiden murmured.

Their eyes lowered, and slowly they leaned in, their lips finally meeting. They kissed passionately for a moment, neither one of them wanting to let go of the other.

Eventually, they broke for air.

Hope shivered, and pulled her coat around herself.

Aiden pulled her body close to his again, and rubbed her arms. "Let me help warm you up," he murmured, his eyes lowered with love for her. "Let me love you."

Hope smiled at him. "I'd like that," she said, her eyes lowered with love for him.

Aiden slowly slid her coat off her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. Next, he picked her up then carried her out of the bathroom and down the hall to his bedroom.

*This love came back to me.*

Rafe got back to his apartment and took off his coat. He tossed it onto the couch, then threw himself down onto it with a sigh. He hadn't like the way his date with Hope had gone tonight. He hadn't liked it at all. Hope had been way too jealous of Lani being out with Aiden. She clearly still had feelings for him. She claimed she had only made out with Aiden on Valentine's Day. For his own sake, he would believe her. He didn't even want to imagine her in bed with the guy. It was bad enough she used to date him and was married to him—even if the marriage had only lasted a few hours.

Rafe pulled out his phone. It was time to pull in that favor with Megan. He had been waiting for the perfect time to put his plan into action. Well, now was as perfect of time as it was going to get. He had to make sure he stopped things between Aiden and Hope before she _did_ end up in Aiden's bed.

He looked at the time. It was almost midnight. He hoped Megan wasn't asleep. Then again, if she was anything like she used to be, he knew she'd be up partying until dawn, then sleep until noon.

He dialed up her number.

Megan answered on the third ring. "Rafey, hey! I thought you had forgotten about me."

"I could never forget about you, Meg Pie," he teased. "I hope I didn't wake you."

Megan laughed. "Me? Please! You know me. I like to stay up until three AM at _least_ , then sleep until noon or later. I was just enjoying a couple cocktails with the cutie I met in the Salem Inn lounge bar."

Rafe smirked. She was still the same old Meg. "Look, I know it's late, but do you think you could meet me at my apartment? I can pick you up if you'd like. I want to finally put that plan of mine into action."

"Sure thing." She lowered her voice. "This dude's a drag anyway. Come pick me up. I don't have a car, remember?"

"I'll be there in ten," Rafe said to her.

"I'll be waiting!" Megan said in a sing-song voice.

Rafe hung up his phone, and put his coat back on. He just hoped this plan worked. If it didn't, he just might lose Hope to Aiden forever, he knew.

*This love came back to me.*

"I was so jealous of Rafe when I saw you in this dress…" Aiden ran his hands down Hope's sides. "I hated the thought of him being with you tonight." He pushed Hope's hair out of the way, then began kissing down the side of her neck. "I wanted to be the only one who got to take it off you and make love to you."

"Well, now you're going to be," Hope said to him in a breathy voice that turned him on to no end.

He blindly unzipped the back of her dress as he continued to kiss her neck making a trail from one side across the front to the other side. He then slid her dress off her shoulders and let it drop to the floor.

Hope stepped out of the dress, then kicked it behind her. Her shoes were off. Aiden wasn't exactly sure when she had kicked them off, but he didn't care. It was one less thing he had to take off.

He backed her down onto the bed and she laid down, pulling him down on top of her. Her stockings were still on, so he reached up and slowly pulled them off. He tossed them to the floor.

Hope ran her hands underneath his t-shirt, her hands and fingers enjoying the feel of his bare chest. I had been too long…

Aiden closed his eyes at the feel of her warm, soft hands against his body. He opened his eyes as he felt her tugging at his shirt. He helped her get it off him and tossed to the floor with the rest of their discarded clothes.

They slid underneath the covers, and Hope immediately got to work at removing his bottoms. Down to the floor they went.

"You don't waste any time, do you my Love?" he murmured before gently nipping at the side of her neck.

She pulled him close so that she could whisper in his ear, "Not when I need you inside me this badly."

He moaned. She always knew just the right thing to do or say to get him in the mood. Then again, who was he kidding? All he had to do was look at her and he was in the mood. Heck, all he had to do was _think_ about her and he was in the mood.

He felt around for the waistband of her underwear, then gently massaged her most intimate area over her underwear before finally tugging at the waistband.

By now Hope was breathing as heavily as if she had just run a mile. Her head was thrown back and her eyes were slightly rolled back with it.

"You need me so badly, don't you, Baby?" Aiden purred into her ear.

Hope, still out of breath grabbed his face between her hands and stared him in the eyes her eyes filled with lust. "Enough with the foreplay, Mr. Jennings. Give it to me _now_."

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "Give what to you now?" he teased.

Hope's eyes grew dark. "You know better than to make me wait for it when I want it this badly."

Aiden moaned. He had no words for that. He took her into his arms and immediately began to make love to her, taking it slow at first (just as Hope liked) and then slowly building his way up to a pace that was just right for the both of them.

Her moans were driving him wild with lust and need for her.

"More. I want more," she ordered, her head thrown back as she placed her hands over his backside to urge him along.

"Hope!" he gasped.

She covered his mouth with her own and they continued to move together as one at a more urgent pace.

They reached their goal nearly simultaneously, then Aiden collapsed down beside her.

Hope took him in her arms, and even though they were both already out of breath, they kissed for a few moments.

"I have to go to the bathroom. You can come with me if it will help you feel more at ease," Aiden told her after a moment.

Hope shook her head. "I trust you. You can go." She rolled over to her side to face him. "After that workout you gave just me, I don't think I quite have the energy to walk yet anyway."

Aiden grinned, and they kissed. "Mm, I'm gonna do what I have to do, then I'm gonna come back and make love to you some more."

Hope raised an eyebrow. "More? You mean to tell me you have more in you after what we just did?"

"Mm, Baby, I always have more in me when it comes to you." Aiden kissed her, his left hand resting on her right breast.

Hope licked her lips. "In that case, make whatever it is you have to do fast."

He kissed her. "Believe me, I will." He kissed her once more, then quickly sprinted to the bathroom, whistling a happy tune.

Hope smiled, and lay down on her back, still trying to fully catch her breath. She was going to love seeing Aiden trying to top what they just did!

A minute later, Aiden came back out.

She grinned. She hadn't been frightened at all the whole time he was gone. Not that he had been gone that long, but that was beside the point. She licked her lips as she eyed his naked body. She already felt herself becoming very ready for more.

He got into bed and under the covers. "See?" he asked, "I told you I'd be right back."

"Mm, less talking and more action," she purred before pulling him into another kiss.

He moaned, and hungrily returned her kisses as he got on top of her and began to work on her some more.

Her moans filled the room.

*This love came back to me.*

"Are you sure you're all right with this plan?" Rafe asked as he and Megan arrived back at his apartment. "I know this is a lot to ask of you, but I really need you to do this for me so that Aiden can't continue to manipulate my fiancé." He shut and locked the door behind them.

Megan, who was loudly chewing a piece of gum, threw herself down onto the couch. "Of course, Rafey! That Aiden guy seems like a real piece of work! I can't believe your fiancé still wants anything to do with him after he tried to strangle her. Sheesh, even to save his son was a lame excuse. He could have worked harder to get that money. Oo, these cushions are soft." She ran her hand over a velvety red cushion of the couch.

"I agree. He has to be stopped before he hurts her again. I need to make it where she wants him out of her life for good. I know my strangling your neck is a little extreme, but if it helps get him in jail—even if it's just a holding cell—it will be worth it. The seeds of doubt will still be planted in her mind, Lani's mind, and everyone else's mind in Salem," Rafe explained.

"Who's Lani?" Megan asked, still cracking her gum.

Rafe shook his head. "No one you need to know about. I promise I'll only press hard enough to leave visible marks. I'll take breaks in-between so that you won't be in any real danger of choking to death."

Megan stood up. "Before we start, where can I ditch the gum? Why does gum always lose its flavor so fast?"

Rafe sighed. He hoped she could stay focused enough to fulfill her end of the plan. He went into his bathroom and grabbed the small garbage can he kept in there. He then came back out and held it out to her. "Spit."

She did as told and he set the can aside.

"Now. Are you ready?" he asked.

Megan nodded as she gently rubbed her throat. "This is going to be a bitch, but sure. Let's just get it over with. And after this we're even. You got it?"

Rafe nodded. "Got it!"

She took her hands away from her throat and winced. "I'm ready when you are."

"I'll try my best to make this quick," Rafe said, moving his hands to grab around her neck and throat.

*This love came back to me.*

Hope lay with her head on Aiden's shoulder and her hand on his chest as he gently stroked her hair. "I'm so happy, my love," she murmured. She kissed his chest.

"Not half as happy as I am, Beautiful," Aiden murmured. Hope smiled up at him and he kissed her softly on the lips.

Hope rested her head on his chest again, and he continued to play with her hair. "I never thought I'd find happiness again," she said. "After our wedding night, I didn't even want to think about you anymore. I hated you! I wasn't sure you ever really loved me. Then Bo died and I went crazy. I had never felt so much pain in my life! I was sure I'd never get through it. Then Rafe came along and was there for me. He took care of me and made sure I got back on my feet again. He made me feel loved again, and he made me love again."

Aiden tensed up a bit and ceased playing with her hair. "I'm not sure I'm liking where this is going. Are you regretting making love with me? Again?"

Hope looked up at him. "Of course not! Let me finish! I loved Rafe, yes. But, like I told you earlier, I was never in love with him the way I should have been. I had felt so abandoned and betrayed that when Rafe started showing romantic interest in me, and when he was so good to me, I kind of fell in love with the idea of being in love with my partner and longtime friend. He was so good to me. He protected me. He fought crime with me like Bo used to do. Heck, Bo had even told Rafe to look out for me, so I even felt that Bo would approve of Rafe and I being together. It seemed perfect and natural for me to be with Rafe. The only problem was that I was more in love with the idea of me and Rafe being in love than I was in actual love. I was just fooling myself. As wonderful as Rafe was to me, he could never be Bo, and he could never be you. When you came back to me and I found out why you had done what you did… When I found out you weren't the monster I had thought you were… All my old feelings for you suddenly came rushing back to me at racecar speed. I tried to deny those feelings and ignore them, but I just couldn't pretend any longer. I could ignore my heart anymore. You're the one that my hearts wants. You're the _only_ one that my heart wants. I love Rafe, yes. But it's a different kind of love than he wants and needs."

Aiden began stroking Hope's hair again. "It absolutely killed me seeing you with Rafe, but after what I did, I knew I deserved you moving on without me. You deserved so much better than who I was back then. I thought I could live without you for your sake, but I just couldn't do it! I know you hate talking about that night, but it made me wake up and realize how wrong I had been, and how now, I'd rather be dead myself than to ever hurt you or ever have to live without you."

Hope took his face in her hands and softly kissed him on the lips. She rested her forehead against his.

Aiden had tears in his eyes. "I promise I will never hurt you ever again. Now, I'd rather kill myself than ever do what I did to you that night."

Hope smiled lightheartedly. "Don't kill yourself." She brushed her lips against his ear. "I'm miss you too much." She moved so that she was on top of him. She then began kissing down the side of his neck so that he would have no doubt in his mind what she wanted.

Aiden moaned, and soon they were going in for round three.

*This love came back to me.*

Aiden couldn't even remember being this happy as Hope sighed happily while they kissed.

She broke the kiss, and turned to face him, her head propped up on her hand. "I'll warn you right now, Ciara's not going to be very happy about you and me getting back together. She adores Rafe and she trusts him. I know you saved her from being attacked, but she still doesn't fully trust you yet. In fact, she's not exactly a big fan of yours right now."

Aiden took her hand in his and gently squeezed it. "Don't worry. I'll win her back just like I won her momma back!" He kissed her hand.

Hope smirked. "Just don't win her back in the same way you won me back!"

Aiden made a disgusted face.

Hope laughed. "In all seriousness, once she sees how much we love each other, she'll come around. It's just going to take some time; that's all."

"So is it too early for her and me to go to a father-daughter dance?" Aiden joked, an eyebrow raised.

Again, Hope laughed. She playfully swatted his chest. "Oh, stop!" She kissed him sweetly on the lips. "Come join me in the shower. I need someone to wash my back." She smiled and winked at him.

"I can wash more than that if you'd like," Aiden said to her. He pulled her closer and murmured into her ear, "right after I make it dirtier."

"Promises, promises," Hope replied with a smirk as she took his hand and led him into the bathroom.

*This love came back to me.*

After having their fun in the shower, Aiden dried off and put his robe on. He then headed out of the bathroom because he had heard a knock on the door.

He figured it was just Chase forgetting his key again (Chase was always misplacing it), so he didn't bother to look out the peephole first. No one else would be there this late, he also figured.

His eyes got wide as he opened the door. "Rafe, what the hell are you doing here?" he asked.

Rafe was serious as he held out his badge. "I'm here on official police business. Aiden Jennings, you're under arrest for the attempted strangulation and murder of Megan Arnold."

Aiden looked at Rafe in shock and bewilderment, not having any idea what Rafe was talking about.


	23. S1E23

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **Season 1: Episode 23**_

Before Rafe could read him his Miranda rights and cuff him, Aiden stepped back. "What are you talking about? I don't even know a Megan, let alone a Megan Arnold."

Rafe stayed smug. "There's no use in denying it, Jennings. I saw you with my own eyes trying to strangle her in the park. You probably would have killed her had I not been in the area and stopped you."

"What the hell are you talking about? Are you actually trying to frame me?" Aiden shook his head. "This is a new low even for you!"

Hearing all the commotion, Hope (clothed in nothing but Aiden's housecoat) came out of the bathroom to see what the fuss was about. "What on earth is going on out here?" She stopped short when she saw that it was Rafe at the door. "Rafe! I, uh… What are you doing here?" she asked, feeling her cheeks burn hot.

Rafe's eyes grew big. "What am _I_ doing here? What are _you_ doing here?"

Before Hope could respond, a woman neither Hope nor Aiden had ever seen before appeared beside Rafe. She had nasty purplish red bruises along her throat. She pointed to Aiden. "That's him! He's the one who tried to strangle me to death in the park a half hour ago!" She sounded panicked. "Arrest him, Officer! Please!" She turned her attention to Hope. "If it weren't for this kind officer here, that man would have killed me, I just know it! He was all upset over losing the love of his life, so I offered to buy him a drink. I felt sorry for the guy, you know. We had a couple of drinks, then when we were walking home, he asked me to come back to his place. I am not that type of gal to sleep with a man on the first date, so I politely rejected him. Then, it was like he suddenly snapped! He began to strangle me. I tried to fight him off, but he was too strong! He said he was tired of women rejecting him, and that this time, someone would pay for it." She latched onto Rafe's arm as if she were still frightened. "This officer happened to be walking by, saw what was going on, and stopped him! Sadly, he got away but I see that Officer Hernandez found him!"

Hope raised an eyebrow, and crossed her arms over her chest. The woman sounded like an actor in a movie that never made it to the big screen because none of the actors could act. "Oh really?" she asked shooting a look at Rafe.

Rafe was blushing profusely, and looking away, unable to meet anyone's eyes.

"I've never seen this woman before in my life, Hope! This is clearly some sick and twisted plot of Rafe's to get you away from me. I guess he wasn't expecting you to be here with me." Aiden turned his attention to Rafe. "It kind of blows your whole plan to hell, doesn't it, Rafe?" It was Aiden's turn to be smug.

Before Rafe could respond, Chase appeared. "Dad, what's going on?" he asked.

Aiden looked over at him in surprise. "Chase what are you doing here?"

"I couldn't sleep, so I decided to come over and see how the restaurant date went. I wanted to see if it made Mom jealous. I figured you wouldn't be sleeping yet since you're usually up late watching TV in bed for a while before going to sleep." He nodded at Rafe. "Why is Rafe here, and who is that woman?"

"Rafe and this woman are claiming that I tried to strangle her to death a half hour ago in the park," Aiden answered.

Chase snorted. "They're obviously lying. You were at the restaurant tonight and then apparently, you went to bed with mom again." He scrunched his face at the thought of what he had just said. "Thank God I missed it this time."

Rafe's face turned red, only this time with anger. "Excuse me? What do you mean by "went to bed with your mom 'again'?"

Chase blushed. "I can't remember why—I think it was because I forgot one of my books. Whatever the reason, I came over Valentine's Day night. When I got here, I heard a noise. I went to investigate and saw that it was Dad and Hope getting it on. They had left their bedroom door open. I quickly got the hell out of there, though it was too late. I was already officially traumatized. As for today…" Chase nodded at Hope, who looked ready to crawl underneath a rock. "From the looks of it, Mom didn't just get here. She had to have been with my dad at the time of the supposed strangulation." He looked at Rafe, and crossed his arms over his chest. "I should have known a dirty cop like you would try to set my dad up to try to keep Hope. Well the joke's on you! It backfired." He smirked a smug smirk.

Aiden nodded. "He turned to Hope. Rafe claims he stopped me from strangling her in the park a half hour ago, but were you not with me shortly after we left the restaurant? Were you not with me a half hour ago when I was supposedly strangling this woman?"

Hope sighed. She felt bad that Rafe had to find out this way, but on the other hand, she was so angry with him she could barely speak. "You know I was," she said to Aiden. She then turned to Megan and nodded her head toward Rafe. "Did he put you up to this?"

Megan hesitated.

Hope raised an eyebrow at her, her arms still crossed over her chest. "You do realize that falsely accusing someone of a crime they did not commit can get you in some serious trouble—maybe even jail time—don't you? I am a cop, and the man you are falsely accusing is a lawyer. If he decides to press charges against you, you could be arrested for libel and slander—even perjury if it goes to trial."

Megan looked at Rafe, and her Brooklyn accent suddenly appeared. "Sorry, Rafey. I know I owed you one, but that didn't include going back to jail! You promised me we wouldn't get caught!"

Rafe blushed. "We're officially even. Go back to the car. I'll be right there."

Before she left, Megan looked at Aiden and Hope with a shrug. "Sorry. I owed him one." She then took off down the hall and into the elevator.

Hope angrily turned her attention to Rafe. "So what exactly did you plan on doing?"

Rafe shrugged. "He wouldn't have gotten convicted without any proof he did it. I just wanted him locked up for the night and the doubt about him put back in your mind. I was just so sick of it! Everywhere I looked there Aiden was, and you didn't seem to mind one bit! I even saw you two having pizza together the other day. I knew I had to do something." Rafe nodded toward Hope and Aiden in their robes. "Apparently, I was right to worry."

"Were those real bruises on her neck?" Aiden asked, his curiosity outweighing his anger now.

Rafe looked away.

"Rafe," answer him!" Hope ordered, clearly ticked off.

Rafe sighed. "She let me strangle her just enough to bruise her. I took breaks in between. She was never in any real danger. I only pressed hard enough to leave marks."

Hope shook her head in disbelief. "You're a piece of work, you know that? Now, I'm taking full blame for the cheating. I should have broken things off with you first. I didn't mean to fall for Aiden again, but I did. Still, that gave you no right to try to set Aiden up!" Hope pushed her hands against Rafe's chest causing him to stumble back a bit. "He could press charges on you, you know, and get you kicked off the force for good this time!"

"Yes, he could," Rafe agreed, hanging his head.

"I'll let you two finish this conversation in private," Aiden said. He looked at Rafe. "And Rafe, as much as I'd love to see you get kicked off the force, I know how much being on the force means to you. I don't like the thought of you being Hope's partner, but I'm not like you. I'm not going to try to sabotage you just because I can. Your job is safe. I won't be pressing any charges. Your plan fell through, so no harm done."

Rafe glanced at him. "I appreciate that, Aiden, but right now, I can't even stand the sight of you. You and I will never be friends."

Aiden nodded. "Well, that's good because I feel the exact same way about you right now, Rafe." He turned to Chase. "Come on, Chase. Let's leave them alone to talk." He followed behind Chase and placed a hand over Chase's back as Chase walked into the apartment.

Chase stopped midway through the door to look back at Rafe. "Rafe?"

Rafe looked at him. "What?"

Chase grinned. "I could tell from what I saw and heard that Hope was _definitely_ enjoying sex with my dad. You weren't even a blip on her radar when he was making love to her."

"Chase!" Hope and Aiden both scolded.

Chase shrugged. "What? It's true."

Aiden gently pushed Chase through the doorway the rest of the way, then shut the door behind them, letting Hope and Rafe continue their conversation in private. He secretly liked Chase's taunting Rafe, but he couldn't let Hope know that.

*This love came back to me.*

"Let's go to the stairwell. We don't need to be waking anyone up by standing in the hallway," Hope said to Rafe.

Rafe nodded and they headed to the stairs. They sat down on the stairs. The stairs were more like the stairs in a hotel than an apartment complex seeing as they were in their own separate room complete with heavy doors to get in and out. So they had their privacy.

"So, when did this cheating start?" Rafe asked.

Hope sighed. "We kissed on New Year's. There might have been a kiss before that. I don't remember. We kissed several times on our date."

"You lied to me about your date didn't you? You didn't just kiss him. You slept with him like Chase said," Rafe asked, then stated.

Hope nodded. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have cheated. It was a horrible and despicable thing for me to do to you."

Rafe nodded. "You're right! It was. I trusted you, Hope! You told me time and time again that I had nothing to worry about with Aiden, but here you were just lying the whole time! I don't believe you!"

Hope sighed. She knew that even though Rafe owed some apologies of his own, she was still in the wrong about cheating, and needed to apologize to him. "Yes, I should have talked with you and been honest with you about my feelings for Aiden. For me to cheat on you was so _very_ wrong. When I thought you had cheated with Lani, I should have just confronted you instead of running off to sleep with Aiden. I admit to that. Also, I shouldn't have faked a stomachache tonight. I should have been upfront with you about realizing tonight that my feelings for Aiden were far from over, and that they weren't going anywhere. I should have had the guts to just tell you that I didn't want to be with you anymore."

"How long would you have gone on cheating with Aiden and leading me on?" Rafe asked.

Hope looked at her feet. "I was going to break it off with you tomorrow. I just had to be with Aiden tonight. Seeing him with Lani made me panic. I didn't want him with her or anyone else! I had to let him know before I lost him."

Rafe laughed bitterly. "Trust me, he set the whole thing up so he could win you back. Clearly, it worked. You were never in any real danger of losing him. I was the only one in danger of losing." He noticed her ring was gone. "I see you took the ring off already."

Hope blushed, and looked at him as she pushed some hair behind her ear. "I'll give it back to you."

Rafe nodded, but didn't say anything.

Hope suddenly remembered that Rafe had done wrong too. She shook her head angrily. "I'm not the only one who did wrong you know. Rafe, I can't believe you stooped so low as to try to pin another strangulation on Aiden that he didn't do! I mean, you strangling that woman, whoever the heck she is, just to try to get Aiden back in jail and me away from him? Rafe, are you insane? I know what I did was wrong, but what you did is just as bad if not worse! You could have really ruined his life! Even just an accusation could still look bad for him with the court after what he already did!"

Rafe sighed. "Look, I know it was stupid, all right? I just went crazy when I thought I was going to lose you. You were slipping away from me, Hope. I could feel it! I knew you still had feelings for Aiden no matter how many times you tried to deny it. I could tell by the way you looked at him and talked about him. I could tell by the way you always wanted to be with him! I just needed a plan to fix it—and fast! I knew it was dumb, but it was the only plan I had. I was desperate. So, I called my childhood friend up who owed me a favor. She was willing to do it, so I figured, why not?"

"I never meant to hurt you, Rafe," Hope said with tears in her eyes. "Especially not after all you've done for me. You've been more than just my lover. You've been such an amazing friend. There aren't many friends who would do for a friend like you would."

Rafe nodded. "Yeah, well back at ya. I know I hurt you too, and I'm sorry, Hope. I really am."

"I hope one day that we can get our friendship back even if it takes time," Hope said still teary-eyed.

Rafe nodded. "Yeah," he said quietly. "Me too." He also had tears in his eyes. "Goodbye, Hope."

Hope sniffled and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Goodbye, Rafe," she whispered.

Rafe then left down the stairs.

Hope took a moment to compose herself, then with one last sniffle and eye wipe, she headed back through the doors and down the hall to Aiden's apartment.

*This love came back to me.*

"I'm so sorry for what Rafe tried to do to you," Hope said as she took Aiden into her arms. "It's over between him and me now. For good."

"It doesn't matter what Rafe did. All that matters is that we can finally be together," Aiden said, resting his forehead against hers.

Hope smiled. "Mm, yes we can."

They kissed.

Chase cleared his throat. "Well, now that I know the date clearly went well, I'll be going."

Aiden pulled away from Hope, and turned his attention to Chase. "I really am sorry you had to see what you saw the other night."

Chase blushed, and looked to the floor. "Can we just all pretend I never saw anything?" He then looked at Hope. "But I am sorry I told Rafe. I didn't mean to be a rat. I just figured he already knew by now so I might as well rub it in his face even though I wanted to vomit after I said what I said to him." Chase grinned. "It was worth it so see the smug look on Rafe's face disappear!"

Aiden laughed, and Hope shot him a look.

Aiden cleared his throat. "I mean, Chase, that wasn't nice."

Aiden and Chase both snickered, and Hope rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"That wasn't nice to taunt Rafe. I was in the wrong not breaking things off with him first. But anyway, I am very sorry for what you had to see your father and me in bed, Chase. And I'm also very embarrassed." She blushed and looked away.

"Not have as embarrassed as I am, believe me," Chase muttered.

"It's late. Will you be staying the night?" Aiden asked Chase.

Chase shook his head. "Are you kidding me? I've already seen and heard enough to last me a lifetime, thank you!"

"We're just going to sleep," Hope assured Chase as she latched onto Aiden's arm.

Chase snorted. "Yeah right! I don't trust you guys. I'll just see you tomorrow. I'm so out of here!"

Hope and Aiden smirked at each other.

"Well, be careful on the way home. Do you need a ride?" Aiden asked.

"No, I rode my bike. I'll be fine," Chase replied.

"Are you sure? Let one of us give you a ride home. We can put the bike in the back seat," Hope offered.

"I'll be fine! It's only a five-minute bike ride back to Joey's, and it's well-lit all the way back," Chase assured her.

Hope hugged him, and kissed the top of his head. "Well, all right. Just text us when you get back to Joey's."

"I will," Chase assured her.

"Goodnight," Hope said.

"Goodnight," he said to her.

Aiden took a turn hugging him. "Good night. Petal safely."

Chase hugged his father back, but rolled his eyes. "Good night. And I will. I'm not a kid anymore. You don't have to tell me these things."

"I'm your father. I don't care how old you get, I will always tell you those things," Aiden said.

Chase shook his head, but smiled nonetheless.

"Hey, Chase, do you think you could tell Ciara for me that I'm not marrying Rafe anymore and that I'm back with your dad?" Hope asked, only half joking.

Chase snorted. "Yeah right! I don't have a death wish." He then smiled. "Does this mean we're going to be a family again?"

Hope and Aiden smiled at each other, their arms around the other.

"We will if I can help it!" Aiden said.

Hope smiled at Chase. "We're gonna start off slow and see where it goes."

Chase shrugged. "I'm willing to wait. I know we will be in the end." He then left the apartment to head back to Joey's.

Aiden locked the door behind Chase (and dead bolted and chained it just in case) then took Hope in his arms. He kissed her sweetly on the lips. "She'll get over it, right?"

Hope raised an eyebrow. "Who, Ciara?"

Aiden nodded. "None other."

Hope sighed. "She will…eventually. But I don't want to think about that right now." She untied his robe.

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Well, what _do_ you want to think about then?" he murmured, pulling her closer to him by the waist.

Hope grinned. "How Chase was right not to trust me when I told him that you and I were just going to sleep," she then purred into his ear.

Aiden moaned then picked Hope, and carried her to his bed.


	24. S1E24

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **Season 1: Episode 24**_

"I'm so nervous," Aiden said as he and Hope sat at Pizza Pete's waiting for Ciara and Chase to arrive. "What if she throws a tantrum right in the middle of the restaurant?"

Hope rolled her eyes, but smirked at Aiden's wild imagination. "Relax! Pizza always puts her in a good mood. I don't think she'll take this as horribly as you think she will. Granted she won't be thrilled, but she'll get over it."

"I hope so," Aiden said, still unsure. "I don't think you should have told her you'd be waiting here with Rafe."

Hope shrugged. "I didn't tell her Rafe would be here. I just told her that we were all going to have a family night together at Pizza Pete's come six o'clock. She just assumed that Rafe was part of the 'we.'"

"Leading her to believe Rafe will be here is basically like telling her he is," Aiden reasoned.

"Here she comes," Hope said, ignoring him and watching as Ciara and Chase came into the pizza place together.

Ciara looked around for them, and her eyes got big when she saw Aiden sitting next to Hope instead of Rafe.

"Maybe you should have told her without me," Aiden said, wishing it wasn't too late to bolt.

Hope took his hand in hers from under the table. "Relax! She's my teenage daughter; not a trained assassin. Besides, I need you here for moral support." She kissed his hand.

"What's _he_ doing here?" Ciara snapped when she and Chase arrived at the table. "And where's Rafe?"

Hope sighed. "Ciara, Rafe and I are no longer getting married. I have decided that I want to give Aiden's and my relationship another chance."

Ciara slammed her hands down on the table. "How can you give him another chance when he tried to kill you? You're smarter than that Mom!"

"Ciara, shut up! You know why he did what he did. Anyway, he's changed now!" Chase snapped.

Ciara whipped around to face Chase. "Don't tell me to shut up…like ever. And how do you really know he's changed? That's what _all_ the criminals say!"

"I know because he's my dad. I've been around him more than you have," Chase replied.

Ciara crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, well he's always been your dad and you were always around him before, yet you still didn't see it coming when he tried to kill Mom."

"If I was a psycho, would I have saved you from that loser who tried to attack you?" Aiden asked her.

Ciara turned her attention to Aiden. "You could have done it just to look good for mom. Heck, for all I know, you could have hired that creep to try to attack me so that you could play the hero!"

"Ciara, don't be ridiculous!" Hope snapped.

Ciara sighed. "I'm sorry, all right? I don't really believe that. But I'm still finding it hard to forgive you after what you did to my mom!"

Aiden nodded in understanding. "It's okay. I'll never forgive myself, so I can't expect you to forgive me."

Ciara's expression softened a bit, and she sat down at the table across from her mom.

Chase sat down beside her, across from his dad.

"I do appreciate you saving me from that thug. And if you make my mom happy…" Ciara trailed off.

"He does. He makes me so, so very happy!" Hope kissed Aiden's hand, and she and Aiden smiled at each other. Hope then looked at Ciara. "I love him, Ciara. The heart wants what it wants. I can't help it. Please make this easier on us all by just accepting it."

"But I loved Rafe!" Ciara said sadly.

"Then marry him. If he loved mom, he's sure to love you. You're like a mini version of her only bitchy," Chase quipped.

Ciara shot him a look to kill.

Chase laughed, and held up his hands in defense. "I'm kidding!"

"I promise, Ciara, I will never hurt your mother ever again! I love her _so_ much. What I did was despicable, and I am going to spend the rest of my life making it up to her," Aiden vowed. He kissed Hope's hand.

Hope smiled lovingly up at him, then turned her attention to Ciara. "Rafe is a wonderful guy, and was a great friend to me. But Ciara, I didn't love him in the way a fiancé should love her fiancé. I was more in love with the idea of being in love with my good friend than I was actually in love with him. I just never felt the intense sparks with him that I feel with Aiden."

Ciara sighed. "What about the ring? Can I have it since you're not going to wear it?"

Hope laughed. Once in a while she still got a little glimpse of eleven-year-old Ciara. "Sorry, but I dropped it off to Rafe at work today. He paid for it; he deserves to have it back."

"Well, that's no fun!" Ciara grumbled

"She was going to flush it down the toilet last night, but I stopped her," Aiden told her.

Ciara raised an eyebrow at Hope. "Really, Mom? Do you know how much that ring must cost? You were just going to flush it down the toilet?"

Hope blushed. "I wasn't thinking right."

"Well, at least stopping her is one good thing you did," Ciara grumbled at Aiden, her arms crossed over her chest. "Not that the ring does any of us any good anymore."

"Won't it be awkward being partners with Rafe now?" Chase asked.

Hope shook her head. "Lani is officially his new partner. Apparently, even though Lani has feelings for him, Rafe felt being her partner would be less awkward than being partners with his cheating ex. I can't say I disagree. He talked to Roman before I even got to work today. JJ is now my new partner. It's a little weird having such a young partner, but he's family, and he's a good cop, so it works out."

"I think it will be better for everybody involved," Aiden said gently squeezing her hand.

Hope nodded. "Plus, I know Jen feels better about him being a cop with me as his partner now."

"Enough with the small talk! I'm starved. Can we please order our pizza now?" Chase asked.

Aiden laughed. "Sure thing!"

They looked over their menus, and when they decided upon what to get, Aiden flagged down their waitress.

*This love came back to me.*

"You got some sauce on your cheek," Aiden said to Hope.

"I do? Where?" Hope asked.

"Right here." Aiden gently wiped it away with his thumb then licked it off his thumb.

Chase wrinkled his nose. "Gross!"

"If you think _that's_ gross, you're going to think this is disgusting," Aiden said before pulling a surprised Hope in for a passionate kiss on the lips.

"Ugh! Please, Dad! I'm trying to eat!" Chase complained with a groan.

Hope smiled at Aiden, and kissed him back. "I love you," she murmured, resting her forehead against his.

"I love you too, my Darling," Aiden said, gently running the back of his hand over her cheek.

"Ew!" Chase complained.

Ciara sighed as she saw how happy her mom seemed to be with Aiden. She turned her attention to Aiden.

"All right, Aiden, here's the deal. I will try to accept you being with my mother." She narrowed her eyes at him. "But if you ever hurt my mother again—even in the slightest way—you're going to wish you really _had_ died that night for real."

"Ciara Alice Brady!" Hope scolded.

Ciara shrugged. "I'm just telling him where we stand." She leaned closer to Aiden, her eyes boring into his. "And they'll never find your body."

Hope gasped. "Ciara!"

Aiden chuckled. "Like mother, like daughter."

Hope shot him an unamused look.

Aiden cleared his throat, and turned his attention to Ciara. "Ciara, I will never hurt your mother again. But if I do, you have my permission to exact any painful revenge on me that you deem necessary."

Ciara eyed him suspiciously. "I'm going to hold you to that."

"Oh, I know you will!" Aiden assured her.

Hope kissed Aiden sweetly on the lips, then looked at Ciara. "Aiden makes me so happy, Ciara. If I can forgive him, don't you think you can too? Especially after he saved you from being attacked?"

Ciara sighed. "I can try. That's all I can do for now."

Aiden nodded. "That's all I ask. Thank you."

Hope nodded as well. "Yes, thank you, Ciara. You're a good daughter."

Ciara smirked. "And don't you forget it!"

Hope laughed.

They then went back to eating the rest of their dinner, and enjoying their time together as a family, or, in Ciara's case, tolerating it.

When they finished their dinner, and once the bill and tip were paid, they all stood up and put their coats back on.

"Would it be too much to ask for a family hug?" Chase asked. "I know it's corny, but…"

Hope grinned, and held her arms out. "I'm all for it!"

Aiden opened his arms as well. "Me too!"

Chase ran into them and hugged his parents. It felt good to be part of a family again.

Ciara hesitated to join them.

"Come on, Ciara. Show us that you're at least willing to try," Hope ordered.

Ciara rolled her eyes and sighed, but reluctantly gave in. "Fine," she said before waling over to join in on the family hug.

Hope and Aiden smile at each other, knowing she'd eventually come around.

*This love came back to me.*

 _A month later-St. Patrick's Day…_

"I know you told me before you didn't want to date because we worked together, but you dated Hope even though she was your partner, so there goes that excuse. Now that you and Hope are broken up, what do you say you and I try dating? You said yourself before that any guy would be lucky to have me," Lani said to Rafe as they ate corned beef sub sandwiches in their patrol car. They were on a stakeout for a drug bust, but so far there had been no action, so they were taking advantage of it by having their dinner.

Rafe glanced at her. "I just got cheated on by Hope. I'm not quite ready to jump back into the dating pool."

"But it's been a month," Lani reasoned.

"I take longer to heal than some. What can I say?" Rafe asked with a shrug.

Lani sighed. "Rafe, tell me the truth. Is it really too soon for you, or am I just someone you will never ever want to be with no matter how much time passes?"

Rafe looked at her, his expression compassionate. "Look… Right now, I'm still hurting, but when I am ready to date, you'll be the first one I go out with. Heck, you'll be the only one I go out with if things go well." He grinned at her.

She grinned at him too. "Promise?"

Rafe nodded and crossed his right index finger over his heart. "Cross my heart."

"Until then, can we hang out as friends if I promise not to push anything?" Lani asked. "I got front row seats to the Coldplay concert next Friday. I'd love for you to join me—as a platonic friend. No strings attached."

Rafe thought about it for a moment. "Well, Coldplay _is_ one of my favorite bands."

"I even sprang for the VIP backstage passes. It would be a shame to let one of them go to waste," Lani said.

Rafe smiled at her. "Well, in that case, I'll go. But I'm paying for my own ticket and backstage pass."

Lani nodded. "Done!"

"I'll be looking forward to it," Rafe said.

"Me too," Lani replied. She smiled at Rafe. "Happy St. Patrick's Day, Rafe."

Rafe smiled back at her. "Happy St. Patrick's Day, Lani."

They went back to eating their subs and staking out the alley that they were supposed to be watching.

*This love came back to me.*

Hope, Aiden, and the kids were enjoying a nice dinner of corned beef and cabbage—sans the cabbage for the kids who weren't fans of cabbage. Hope and Aiden had green beers and the kids had green Sprites. The kids were talking excitedly about Claire's Ireland themed party that was happening in an hour.

"Can Claire stay over our place after the party?" Ciara asked Hope.

"And can Joey stay over too?" Chase chimed in.

"I was hoping you could stay at my place," Aiden said to Hope. He then murmured in her ear, "After all, what good is St. Patrick's Day if you can't get lucky?"

"Please!" Chase said covering his ears. "I'm barely just starting to get what I saw last month out of my head."

Aiden blushed. "You weren't supposed to hear that."

Hope grinned, blushing a little bit herself. She pushed some hair behind her ear. "I don't know if you four should be alone at the house," she said to Ciara and Chase.

"Mom, please! We're going to be seniors at the end of the year. We're responsible enough!" Ciara begged.

Chase nodded his agreement.

"I don't know," Hope said, still hesitant.

Aiden placed an arm around Hope, and gently rubbed her shoulder. "Ah, come on! They're responsible, as are Claire and Joey. Anyway, if there's a problem Steve, Shawn, or Roman can stop by."

Hope sighed.

"Please, Mom?" Ciara pleaded.

"Yes, please, Mom?" Chase chimed in.

They both gave her puppy dog eyes.

"Then we can have some alone time back at my place, just you and me," Aiden said to Hope gently rubbing her upper left thigh.

Hope bit her bottom lip. "All right, fine."

Chase and Ciara both cried out in happiness and high-fived.

"Thanks, Mom! You're the best!" Ciara said.

Chase nodded. "Yes, thanks, Mom." He nodded at Aiden. "Thanks Dad."

"Can we head over to the party early since we're done with our dinner?" Ciara asked.

"I don't see why not," Hope agreed.

Aiden nodded. "Go have fun."

Ciara and Chase thanked them.

Chase then went over and hugged both his parents.

Ciara hugged Hope, then paused as she glanced at Aiden. Finally, she quickly hugged Aiden. "Thanks for talking her into it even though you did have your own gross hidden agenda behind it."

Aiden grinned, and hugged her back. "You're welcome!"

The kids then left.

Hope got out of her chair, and sat on Aiden's lap. She wrapped her arms around him, and softly kissed his lips. "See? I told you she'd come around."

Aiden smiled, and nuzzled his nose against hers. "Yes, you did."

"Now, what do you say we pay the check and go 'get lucky' as you so crassly put it?" Hope asked him with a grin.

Aiden moaned. "Yes, let's get out of here. I can't wait to get into your pot o' gold," he murmured, his hand moving to gently caress her aforementioned "pot of gold" over her pants.

Caroline, who for Hope's sake, had decided he was free to eat at the Brady Pup again even though she still didn't fully trust him, cleared her throat. "Here's your check."

Aiden blushed. "Thank you," he stammered.

Caroline left.

Hope blushed, and gently swatted his shoulder. "You're embarrassing! You know that, don't you?"

"Trust me, Baby, you're not half as embarrassed as I am," Aiden said, setting down the money for the bill and tip.

Hope laughed. "Let's go get lucky, Mr. Jennings." She kissed him, then took his hand in her own.

He took her hand and grinned. "With pleasure!"

She grinned too, and they kissed softly on the lips.

They then got up and left the pub with their arms around each other, both happy, eager to be alone together, and even more in love with each other than ever before.

 _ **Author's Note: This is the end of season one. Look for Season 2 May 13**_ _ **th**_ _ **. Thank you Celgress, Aphass, and anyone else who ever read my story or reviewed. I read all your comments and appreciate them so much! You guys are amazing and I hope you stick around for season 2.**_ __ __


	25. S2E1

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **Season 2 Episode 1: Brand New Day**_

"Come in," Hope called out as someone knocked on her office door. She was finishing up some paperwork and didn't bother to look up. She figured it was Roman coming into talk with her about how her current case was going.

Still not looking up she said, "Hey Roman. Before you ask, it's coming along. Just tying up some lose ends before we're able to get the APB out on him."

Suddenly, a bouquet of pink and yellow tulips was held underneath her nose. She smiled, and looked up to see Aiden standing in front of her, looking dapper in a pair of medium-wash blue jeans and a forest green sweater. The bouquet he was holding out to her was tied with a purple silk ribbon.

She smiled, and took the flowers from him. "You remembered by favorite flower." She closed her eyes as she inhaled the sweet floral aroma.

"Actually, they're for Bertha, that 80-year-old lady that works at the diner. She likes tulips too. I just came to tell you that it's over between you and I. Bertha and I have fallen madly in love and are going to run away together to the Pine Oaks retirement home in Florida," he teased.

Hope smirked. "We'll, she _is_ quite stunning. I understand. I hope you two are very happy together." She then grinned. "Come here you!" She stood up and they kissed over her desk.

"Are you free for lunch?" Aiden asked before kissing her again. "I have something special planned for us. It's slightly chilly out, but it's not too bad compared to what it has been lately. At least the sun is shining."

"Mm, I'll make the time." Hope said walking around her desk to him. She kissed him again. "Just let me replace the flowers and water in this vase so I can keep these beautiful tulips on my desk." She smirked at him. "Pine Oaks Retirement home! Is that even a real place?"

Aiden shrugged. "Heck if I know. I just got it off the top of my head."

Hope laughed. She ditched her now dead flowers that Aiden had gotten her a week ago, then went to refill the vase with fresh water.

As Aiden waited for her, Rafe walked by her office and stopped when he saw Aiden in there.

"Rafe," Aiden said, nodding his head in a polite hello. He wasn't Rafe's biggest fan, but for Hope's sake, he was civil to him.

"Aiden," Rafe said nodding slightly as well. "What brings you here?"

"Just taking my beautiful lady out for lunch," Aiden replied.

"The one you stole from me, you mean?" Rafe asked with a grunt.

"The one I had first. She clearly would rather be with me. It didn't take her long to come back to my bed once I returned." Aiden knew he shouldn't be so cruel. It wasn't in his nature. But something about Rafe just ticked him off and it was hard to always be civil to him.

Rafe looked like he wanted to attack, but Hope came back in before he could.

"Hey!" She placed a hand over Rafe's shoulder. "Remember where you are and what you do for a living. You need to learn to handle being provoked better." She turned her attention to Aiden. "And was that really necessary?" She raised an eyebrow at him and crossed her arms over her chest.

Aiden held his hands up in defense. "You're right. It was uncalled for." He looked at Rafe. "I apologize."

Rafe grunted in response, then mumbled to Hope that he'd see her around. He left.

Hope looked at Aiden.

Aiden blushed. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm still a little annoyed that he pounced on you the second I was gone. Heck, the second Bo was gone for that matter."

Hope sighed. "I don't want to talk about my past relationships. She put her vase that was now filled with fresh water and the tulips back on her desk. She then pulled him close and kissed him, her fingers playing with his hair. "Let's just concentrate on you and me."

Aiden smiled. "We can do that."

They kissed some more.

"Where are you taking me?" Hope murmured, resting her forehead against his.

Aiden took her hand. "Come with me and find out."

They smiled at each other and headed hand-in-hand out of her office and out of the station.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"Hey, loser. Your button's popping open. Get a larger shirt! Aint no one want to see your flabby ass stomach!"

Jonah automatically looked down at his stomach. Sure enough the new plaid shirt his mother had gotten him had popped a button. Wait. Actually two buttons had popped. The two bottom buttons had popped completely off. Jonah sighed. He had told his mother he needed an extra-large, but his mother insisted that he wasn't fat and that a medium would fit him just fine. He had sucked it in when buttoning the shirt, but sadly, that trick hadn't worked long.

Well, he couldn't go through the rest of school wearing a busted plaid shirt! He headed to his locker and took out the only other shirt he had in there. It wasn't a gym day, so his PE shirt was at home in the wash. A novelty shirt he had bought just for laughs would have to do. He had brought it to school to show Joey, Chase, and Theo, but now he guessed they'd see it on him instead of him just showing it to them. He shut and locked his locker, then quickly headed to the bathroom to change before Health class.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Lani slammed a flyer down on Rafe's desk.

Rafe looked down at it. He picked it up and skimmed it. It was a flyer for the upcoming music festival in Chicago that weekend. It featured Cold Play, Radiohead, U2, Aerosmith, and Bon Jovi with a guest appearance by Pink.

Rafe looked up at her, a bushy eyebrow raised. "What's this?"

Lani rolled her eyes. "It's a flyer for a music festival. Duh! Can't you read?" She crossed her arms over her chest and smirked.

Rafe rolled his eyes. "Obviously, but why are you giving it to me?"

"Because I got us two tickets and you are going to go with me," Lani said matter-of-factly.

Rafe crossed his arms over his chest. "Who says I want to go with you?"

Lani shrugged. "Why wouldn't you? It's my treat, we both have off, you're single now and you promised you'd give me a chance, and you love all those bands." She raised an eyebrow and nodded toward him. "Need I say more?"

"I don't really listen to Pink. She's more of a girl's artist," Rafe stated, setting the flier back down.

Lani rolled her eyes. "A girl's artist? Please! I've never heard of such a dumb thing. Anyway, she's only a guest. I for one love her."

"Because you're a girl!" Rafe said with a grin.

Lani shook her head. " _No_ , I love her and just happen to be a girl. So are you coming with me or not?"

Rafe thought about it for a moment. He did love all those bands that would be there. And secretly, Pink wasn't all that bad. In fact, he did find her songs quite catchy. He nodded. "All right, let's go. But I'm not letting you treat me."

Lani smiled. "You can drive us down and pay for all the gas. Then we'll be even. We'll go havies on the hotel and Dutch on the food."

Rafe nodded. "Deal!"

Lani smirked; apparently proud of herself. "I'll make the hotel reservations once I get home."

"Just one night and two rooms, all right?" Rafe called out after her as she turned to leave.

"Of course!" she called back, a devious smirk on her face.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"I really don't see why I need to be blindfolded," Hope said as Aiden led her by the hand to the place where he had his surprise set up.

"Because it will make it more special if you don't see it until we're there. Don't worry, we're almost there. Just a few more feet." Aiden led Hope the rest of the way, then stopped. "All right, we're here." He undid her purple silk blindfold, and let her see where he had brought her.

Hope opened her eyes, and gasped when she looked around. "Aiden, it's so beautiful!"

"Beautiful scenery for my beautiful love," Aiden replied, kissing her hand.

Hope smiled and blushed, then looked around some more. They were in a beautiful field with the greenest grass Hope had ever seen. The grass was covered in beautiful followers in an array of colors as far as the eye could see.

They were currently standing by a big, beautiful tree covered in pink blossoms that were starting to fall to the ground here and there. "Is that a cherry blossom tree?" Hope asked. She looked over at Aiden who had a picnic basket in his hand with a purple blanket folded on top of it.

Aiden nodded. "I figured we'd have a picnic here." He set the basket down then took the purple blanket and began to lay it out across the grass under the tree.

Hope helped him lay it out. "Where did you find this place?"

"One of my clients owns this property. They want to build a house on it. They had a problem with the contractors that I helped them take care of. I gave them a discount on my services in exchange for letting me take you on a lunch date here," Aiden explained. He placed the picnic basket on the blanket and began to take out their food.

"This is so beautiful, and such a romantic gesture. Thank you so much," Hope said, sitting down and watching as he unloaded a bottle of red wine, two wine glasses, a loaf of bread, a wedge of cheese, a little container of butter, a bottle of ranch dressing, a plastic container containing an iceberg salad, and another container that held soup.

He opened the container up to show her. "I hope you like chicken and Gnocchi."

She smiled. "I do!" As she watched him take out paper plates, plastic utensils, napkins, and one more container of something yet to be discovered, she shook her head. "How on earth did you fit everything in that basket? Just when I think you're done, you keep pulling things out!"

Aiden smirked. "If you pack everything just right, you can fit it."

"Kind of like a puzzle," Hope said, opening the mystery container to reveal four chocolate-covered strawberries. "Ooh, these look good."

"Exactly, and yes, they do. I figured they'd be the perfect dessert for us to share." Aiden leaned over and kissed her cheek.

Hope pushed some hair behind her ears and smiled. "You went through so much trouble to set this up. Again, it's so romantic. Thank you."

"Nothing's too good for my baby," Aiden told her.

Hope crawled over to him and kissed him softly on the lips, his face between her hands. "Likewise," she said dreamily.

They stared into each other's eyes with nothing but love in their eyes. Then, they went to work on eating their lunch.

"It's slightly chilly, but at least the wind hasn't picked up. Who would have thought I'd be wearing a sweater in spring?" Hope asked. She was wearing dark-wash blue jeans and a white cowl-neck sweater with black ankle boots. "I feel more dressed for winter than spring."

"That's Salem for you. It always feels like we get an extended winter and skip right over spring," Aiden said as he poured their wine.

"At least we finally got rid of all the snow," Hope quipped.

"Don't jinx it," Aiden quipped in return.

They both laughed.

He set the wine aside then held out his glass. "To us and our second chance on this beautiful spring day."

Hope grinned. "To us and our second chance on this beautiful spring day," she agreed.

They clinked glasses and drank up, smiling at each other with love in their eyes for the other.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Jonah walked into Health class with a grin on his face. He could hardly wait to show the boys his new shirt. He knew they would get a kick out of it.

As he headed to his seat, he heard his fellow classmates snickering.

He grinned at them. "Hilarious shirt, isn't it?"

"Yeah, if you're five years old," Becca Thomas who was known for being the senior queen be who thought she ran the school replied. She was snobby to everyone who didn't fit into her little circle of friends, so Jonah ignored her and sat down in his seat.

"Dude! That shirt is hilarious, Man!" Joey said as he looked at Jonas's shirt. He nudged Theo. "Dude, look at Jonah's shirt!"

Theo looked at Jonah's shirt and burst out laughing.

Claire looked over and smiled slightly. She shook her head. Only Jonah would wear something like that to school. But, in her opinion, that was part of his charm.

Ciara and Chase came into class just then and took their usual seats with Ciara on one side of Claire and Chase on the other side of her behind Jonah.

"Like my shirt?" Jonah asked Chase and Ciara as he stood up and modelled it for them.

Ciara laughed. "You're crazy!"

Chase laughed so hard he snorted. He high-fived Jonah. "I got to get me a shirt like that!"

Jonah grinned; proud of himself.

Just then, then teacher came in, so they all grew quiet.

Jonah sat back down.

Becca Thomas raised her hand.

"Yes Becca?" Mr. Samuels asked.

"Mr. Samuels, Jonah is wearing a shirt that is kind of inappropriate for school, don't you think?" Becca asked.

Jonah blushed as Mr. Samuels put on his glasses and looked at Jonah.

The whole class snickered as Mr. Samuel's read out loud what Jonah's black t-shirt said in big red letters. "I love to fart." The shirt had holes all over it as if someone had farted so much they made holes in it.

"Mr. Caldwell, we're all for self-expression in this school, but don't you think that shirt is a bit much?" Mr. Samuels asked.

"I'm sorry, Sir. I kind of popped out of my dress shirt I had originally planned to wear today. My mom always insists on buying me shirts two sizes too small. This was all I had here to wear," Jonah explained.

Mr. Samuels nodded. "Very well, but from now on I suggest you get your mother to start buying you the size you really need."

The class giggled.

Jonah sank down in his seat a little.

Ciara shot Becca a dirty look. "Bitch," she muttered under her breath.

 _ **~*This love came back to me*~**_

 __Hope and Aiden lay kissing on the floral grass with Aiden on top of Hope, her hands pinned beneath his above her head.

"I've got to get back to work," she breathed between kisses. She sighed happily. "I wish I could stay here all day with you instead."

They continued to kiss for a moment more. "Then stay with me. Call in sick or something," Aiden murmured, his hands down stroking her hair.

They kissed some more and he moved his kisses to her neck.

She tangled her fingers in his hair. "I can't. I really have to wrap up this case I'm working on. We'll continued this tonight, I promise."

Aiden's lips met with hers again and they kissed just a moment longer. "All right. Can we at least eat our dessert before you have to go?"

Hope sat up and wiped some cherry blossom petals out of her hair. "Of course!"

They smiled at each other, then went to sit back on the blanket.

"I forgot the whipped cream. I always forget something!" Aiden said.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure they'll still be delicious." Hope took one of the strawberries.

Aiden took a strawberry too, and they held it out to each other's mouth, feeding the other.

Hope licked her lips. "Mm… Delicious!"

Aiden nodded, licking his own lips. "Really good."

They finished their strawberry and helped themselves to their second one.

"I wish I had a third one," Aiden said once he had finished his second strawberry. "I should have brought us more. I was just trying to have room for everything," Aiden said.

"You'll have to settle for what's left on my lips," Hope, who had just finished her second strawberry purred as she crawled over to him and sat down in his lap.

He moaned, his eyes lowering with love for her. "Mm, something tells me that will make it taste even sweeter."

"There's only one way to find out," Hope murmured, her hand resting against his cheek.

They kissed, their tongues slipping into play with the other's and tasting any remnants of strawberry the other might have left on them.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"Yes, I will need just one room for this coming weekend. Yes please—two nights. Saturday and Sunday night. Perfect! One double bed is more than fine. There's no couch in the room is there? No? Fantastic! Yes. Also, if available, I'd like a room that is more secluded from everyone else. My boyfriend and I like our privacy. Thank you." Lani gave the receptionist all the information needed, then thanked her and hung up the phone.

She smiled to herself. Rafe would be thanking her by the end of the weekend. He may not know right now that he wanted to be her boyfriend, but by the end of the weekend, she could guarantee that he would be hers and all hers. She would see to that.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Chase lay back in his seat as he and his classmates were forced to watch some lame DVD about being a parent. He supposed it was supposed to scare them off from wanting to become parents too early in life.

It was so boring. He yawned, and slouched down in his seat even more.

On the DVD, there was this little screaming brat around three or four whining because his mother told him no more cookies. The only cool thing about the kid was that he was wearing these white Converse high-tops. Chase remembered owning a pair of those. He was probably around the boy in the movie's age when he had them. He obviously didn't remember much about being that age, but those shoes he remembered because he loved wearing them every day. He couldn't remember what happened to them. He knew his dad had taken them off him, but then they had never appeared again.

Chase thought back to the last time he remembered wearing them.

 _His mother. He remembered her smiling at him and tying up his shoes. His mother never smiled unless it was at him._

 _She sat him down to play with his toys. Yes, he remembered now because he remembered he was tired of playing with the boring old toys he already had. He got up to look around the room. His mother wasn't paying attention. She left the room and his eyes caught on something shiny and black that looked interesting. He toddled over to it and picked it up. He wasn't quite sure what it was but it looked way more fun than his other toys…_

"Chase!" Claire whispered beside him.

Chase shook from his flashback. "Hm?" He asked.

Claire nodded toward the teacher.

Chase could tell that Mr. Samuel's had asked him something, but he had no idea what. The DVD had stopped playing, so he guessed it had something to do with what they had just watched.

"I'm sorry, can you repeat the question?" he asked.

"I said, how did you like the DVD? Did it show you that your too young to have children, or did it make you want to have children?" the teacher repeated.

"Me? I don't think I am anywhere near ready to be a dad right now or if ever," Chase said.

"And Jessica? What about you?" the teacher asked another student.

This carried on for a few more responses, then they got their homework assignment of writing a one-page essay on why it is best to not have children too soon.

The bell rang, and they were dismissed.

"What does this have to do with Health class anyway? I don't know about you guys, but I'd much rather write about how babies are made. Wouldn't that make more sense?" Joey asked.

Theo and Chase snickered, and high-fived him.

Jonah grinned, though he didn't really know much about that subject. Granted, he knew how babies were made, but he didn't have any experience in babies or the way they were made.

Claire and Ciara rolled their eyes.

"Chase, where did you go earlier when the teacher first asked you the question?" Claire asked him. "You looked so spaced out."

"I was just zoning out because that lame DVD was so boring. I wasn't thinking about anything important," Chase replied.

As they headed out of class talking about what their senior class prank should be, Chase couldn't help but think of that earlier memory as a child. There was something more to it. He could feel it. Something just felt off about his memory. However, there was no time to ponder it now. He had English class to get to.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Aiden dropped Hope back off at the station.

Hope took his face between her hands and kissed him passionately. "Thanks for the ride. I'll see you tonight, Mr. Jennings." She kissed him again.

"In my bed…" he murmured.

She rested her forehead against his. "That's always where you mind ends up, isn't it?"

"Does that bother you?" he teased.

"Not one bit!" Hope said with a grin.

He grinned too, and they kissed some more.

"I'll call you when I get out of work," she said.

"Mm, you do that, Baby," Aiden said, licking his lips.

As Hope got out of the car she smiled at him and blew him a kiss.

He smiled back and pretended to catch it.

She then shut the door and headed back in to work. During lunch, Aiden had told her that he had to decide to either renew his lease, or move somewhere else. His community service was just about over, and he was thinking of getting a place closer to her now. She hadn't mentioned anything to him because she wanted to talk to Ciara first, but she was thinking about asking him to move in with her. Ciara would be getting a place of her own soon no doubt, and Hope was at Aiden's most of the time anyway, so she figured that maybe taking the next step wouldn't be so bad. After all, they had already been living together before he had…

Hope shoo the thought from her head. She trusted him now and she knew that Ciara was finally starting to trust him again too.

Hope touched her lips where Aiden had thoroughly been kissing her all afternoon, and smiled. Yes, she would talk to Ciara right after work.

She walked back into work even happier than she had been before she left it for lunch.


	26. S2E2

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **Season 2 Episode 2:**_ _**Makin' Plans**_

Hope knocked on Ciara's bedroom door that night. It was after dinner, and Ciara was in her room doing her homework. Hope figured it would be the perfect time to talk to her about Aiden moving in with them.

"Come in," Ciara called out.

Hope came in and shut the door behind her.

Ciara looked up from her desk. "What's up?"

"I wanted to talk to you about something," Hope began. "I know you're doing your homework, but…"

Ciara shut her book. "I welcome the break! Whomever thought up Algebra is psycho. Now I'm on Algebra 2. It's a sick, sick world, Mom, when someone creates such a torture device for teenagers to learn."

Hope laughed. "Oh stop!" She turned serious then. "I wanted to talk to you about something. It involves Aiden.

Ciara's face paled, and her eyes got wide. "He didn't ask you to marry him already, did he?"

"What? Did he say something to you?" Hope asked, instantly feeling a bit of butterflies in her stomach. She sat down at the end of Ciara's bed.

"No. I just thought that maybe that's what you wanted to talk about. Wait. It's true. Isn't it? He proposed." Ciara looked a little ill.

Hope shook her head. "No! We just got back together two months ago Ciara. My goodness!"

Ciara shrugged. "Well, you're so madly in love with him. It wouldn't surprise me."

Hope sighed. "I was just going to ask how you would feel about him moving in with us."

Ciara raised an eyebrow at her. "Why?"

"Well, his community service is just about over and his lease is soon up. He thought it would be nice to move closer to me," Hope explained.

Ciara snorted. "I bet! You know moving in together after only two months of being back together isn't much better than getting married."

Hope shot her a look. "It's far less serious than marriage and you know it! Anyways, I've been at his place so often we were practically living together anyway." She sighed, and looked her daughter in the eyes. "Ciara, you promised you'd try to accept him back into our lives."

"I have, haven't I?" Ciara asked, her voice raised. She lowered her voice. "It's just going to take me a while longer after what he did. Surely you can understand that."

"If I can forgive him, can't you?" Hope asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I'm trying," Ciara replied. "Look. If this is what you really want, then go for it. I've been thinking about moving out anyway."

Hope crossed her arms over her chest. "Excuse me?"

Ciara nodded. "I want some extra cash for my senior year, and I've been babysitting Tommy a lot lately. Chad and Abby could really use a nanny so they offered me the guest house rent free for being a live-in nanny."

Hope opened her mouth to complain, but Ciara cut her off.

"Before you say anything, Abby and Chad already insisted that I stay in school, and have all my homework and studying done before I even think about helping out with Tommy. Abby works during the day, but Chad will be home while I'm in school. In the evening, after I've done all my homework and studying, is when I will take care of Tommy," Ciara explained.

"It's too much work. I know school is almost out for this year, but your senior year you're going to be busier than ever. You'll be too overwhelmed managing school and taking care of a two-year-old," Hope reasoned.

"I can handle it, Mom. Trust me. If at any time I feel like I can't handle it, then I promise to quit and move back home. I just want to get the experience of living away from home. I know I'll get that experience in college, but I want to be prepared for it so that I don't freak out once I get to college. You know?" Ciara asked.

Hope thought about it for a moment. She sighed. "I don't trust Chad too much, but I do trust Abigail. I know she wouldn't do anything to put your well-being at risk."

Ciara nodded. "Exactly!"

"When would you be moving?" Hope asked.

"I was thinking I'd move there this summer. So, early July; as soon as school's out," Ciara replied.

"Well, if this is what you really want…" Hope trailed off.

Ciara nodded. "It is. That way, we both can be happy. I get an income and can get used to living on my own, and you can play house with Aiden. I'm sure Chase will have no problem with that!"

Hope took Ciara's hand and looked at her with concern. "Baby, are you sure you're not moving out just to get away from Aiden? Because if you are, there's no need. I'll just tell him to keep his current apartment."

Ciara shook her head. "No. I've been wanting to do this since before you even brought up Aiden moving in. I promise."

Hope sighed. "All right. I'll let you get back to your Algebra 2 homework then."

"That's even worse than Aiden moving in!" Ciara joked.

Hope shook her head. "Very funny!" She smirked as she left Ciara's room, gently shutting the door behind her.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Lani had the day off and was putting her day to good use. She was at the mall shopping for her weekend with Rafe. If she was going to make him fall for her, she was going to need the ammunition to do so.

The first place she decided to go was of course the most important stop—Bedroom Bliss. She planned on spending most of the weekend with Rafe in bed. They'd go to the music festival and of course out to eat, but other than that she planned on keeping him in bed as long as possible. Sure he was having some reservations about dating her, but as soon as he saw her in her lingerie, she had no doubt he would change his mind and be putty in her hands.

She felt sexiest in red, so she looked for anything red and grabbed it in her size. She planned on trying on everything she found so that she could see exactly how it would look on her body.

She found a hot one-piece that was completely see-thru. She found a two-piece with a zippered crotch on the bottoms and the bra top had straps that strapped across the stomach. There was a vinyl one-piece with a zipper all the way down the front that would allow the body suit to simply fall right off her if unzippered. Finally, she found a two-piece that had a very tiny red piece of material that was supposed to be underwear. The top was a big red bow that covered her breasts and only her breasts.

Into the dressing room she went, trying on each piece of lingerie and admiring herself from every angle. In the end, she couldn't decide which she looked sexier in, so she decided to buy them all.

After she purchased them, she left for the wine store in the mall. After all, if she couldn't get Rafe to say yes right away, she'd need a little help. While she was at it, a trip to the pharmacy wouldn't hurt matters either, she figured. There were some supplies she needed.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Social Studies class was over. The bell had just rung. However, their teacher Mrs. Mathis had just told them all to stay in their seats.

"A summer internship has come up that won't pay anything but will get you extra credit as well as look very good on your college applications if you take it," Mrs. Mathis began.

"For what?" Claire asked. Claire was a go-getter and always wanted to improve her grades even though they didn't need improving.

"As camp counselors at Camps Wanataga and Hakui in New Haven Connecticut. There is a new camping program associated with schools all over the world to place juniors and seniors into camp counselor positions at camps in need of counselors. It starts right after the 4th of July. You will spend one week learning the rules and how to be a counselor, as well as getting the camp ready for campers. Then, you will spend the following week being a counsellor. In exchange for helping out, you will get a ten percent boost to your average this year. It may not seem like a lot but trust me it is." Mrs. Mathis looked at Joey and Chase, then at some other students who weren't exactly known for their good grades. "Trust me. Some of you could use the extra credit. There are twelve spots open. You can pick which camp you'd prefer, but its first come first serve. The camps are literally only a canoe trip across the pond away, so it doesn't make much difference which camp you are assigned to. Those are the two camps our class happened to be assigned to and they are both very nice camps I've heard. Sign-up sheet is on my desk. You are dismissed."

Claire went straight to the sign-up sheet and signed up for Camp Wanataga.

"If my girl's singing up, then so will I," Chase said, signing his name under hers.

She smiled at him. "That's so sweet!"

"I can't spend two weeks without my girl!" Chase said to her.

Claire pushed some hair behind her ears and smiled, her cheeks tinted pink.

"Ciara, why don't we sign up? I don't really need the extra credit, but I'd love to help out kids!" Theo said.

"I was going to help out Chad this summer, but I suppose I could postpone that for two weeks if this is what you really want. I didn't tell him yes yet anyway," Ciara replied.

"Do this with me. Please?" Theo begged.

Ciara smiled at him. "You know I can never say no to you."

Theo grinned, and they signed up together underneath Claire and Chase's names.

"Well, gosh it sounds like fun! I could use the time away," Jonah said signing up under Theo's name.

"Well, clearly I could use the extra credit, and there might be some hot counselors at the neighboring camp. Plus, I'm not spending the summer alone. I'll do it." Joey signed up after Jonah, completing the councilor list for Camp Wanataga.

"What about Jade?" Claire asked.

"Eh. We broke up," Joey said. "She was too clingy."

Claire rolled her eyes. Joey dated more girls than times he changed his underwear. He always had a lame excuse as to why things ended.

"This is going to be a fun two weeks!" Theo said.

His friends all grinned.

"I think it will!" Ciara agreed, draping an arm around his shoulder. "I can feel it!"

~*This love came back to me.*~

Hope knocked on Aiden's door.

Aiden opened it up and smiled big when he saw her. "I missed you."

Hope pulled him close. "You just saw me during lunch."

"But that was over five hours ago," Aiden reasoned, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Good point," Hope murmured.

They kissed in the doorway a moment until Aiden's elderly female neighbor across the way cleared her throat. "Get a room."

"Sorry. Mrs. Campbell," Aiden said to her.

Mrs. Campbell grunted, then headed into her apartment, shutting the door behind her.

Hope grinned. "Charming old lady."

Aiden rolled his eyes. She just moved in last month. The old bat belongs in a retirement home; not here. I don't know where her husband is. He probably died just to get away from her."

Hope laughed, and playfully swatted his chest. "Stop that! Just because she is a mean old woman doesn't mean you have to act just as mean."

"So let's do something that makes me much nicer then…" Aiden murmured gently rubbing up against her.

Hope smirked. "Not until I get some food in my stomach. Ciara and Chase are out with their friends for dinner, so I figured I'd eat with you. You didn't eat dinner yet, did you?"

Aiden shook his head. "I was waiting for you."

Hope took his hand. "Where would you like to go?"

"We can go to the Denny's that's just down the street. It's not fancy, but it's close. And the sooner we have dinner…" Aiden trailed off and pulled her closer, taking her face between his hands. "The sooner we can come back home for dessert…" He began kissing down the side of her neck as his right hand started to make its way underneath her shirt.

Hope smirked, and grabbed his wrist. "Down boy. We wouldn't want Mrs. Campbell to come back out and get an eyeful."

Aiden shrugged as he shut and locked the door. "Why not? It's probably the only action she'll ever get to see the rest of her miserable life."

Hope laughed, and gently shoved him before latching her arm with his. "You're so bad!"

"Wait until we get back home and I'll show you just how bad," Aiden teased in a tone that told Hope exactly what he meant.

Hope blushed, but smiled as she pushed some hair behind her ears.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

 __"Where are you going?"

Jonah winced as he was stopped by his father on the way out the door. "I'm going out to dinner with friends, Dad."

"Your mother cooked a nice meal here. What's wrong with her cooking?" Frank Caldwell crossed his arms over his chest.

Jonah sighed. "There's nothing wrong with Mom's cooking. I just want to hang out with my friends is all."

Frank sighed. He then pulled out a twenty dollar bill and handed it to Jonah. "Give me back the change. Next time, tell your mother you're going out before she goes to all the trouble of making a nice meal for us."

"Thanks, Dad. I will. I promise." Jonah then left the house before his mother could find out what was going on and stop him from leaving. He loved his mother, he did. But she always wanted the family to eat healthy foods that he hated. She didn't any make sense. She bought him clothing two sizes too small insisting that he wasn't fat, yet at the same time she wanted him to eat 100% healthy so that he would lose weight. He guessed she was embarrassed by his weight. _He_ wasn't embarrassed by his weight. After all, he'd seen people much bigger than him. Everyone seemed to have the problem with his weight except for himself and his friends. That is why he liked hanging out with them so much. Being with them was the only time he didn't feel judged.

Jonah shoved the twenty in his pocket and got on his bicycle. His dad wasn't so bad. He was a little more lenient on him like he was tonight. However, if his mom was around, his father would always back his wife up no matter how unreasonable she was being.

Jonah took off on is bike, eager to meet his friends and forget about his overbearing parents.

~*This love came back to me*~

"There's something I wanted to talk to you about," Hope said as they waited for their food.

"A good something or a bad something?" Aiden asked.

"A good something. At least, I hope you think so," Hope replied.

Aiden's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh. Hope, are you pregnant?"

Hope scrunched her eyebrows together. "What? No! Oh my gosh, between you and Ciara, you're both really bad guessers."

"Then what is it?" Aiden asked.

Hope took out a small box and handed it to Aiden. "Open it."

Aiden looked at the box suspiciously as if it were going to explode. He then slowly took the lid off. He looked up at her in surprise. "A key?"

Hope smiled and nodded. "To my house. I was wondering, since your community service is almost over, your lease will soon be up, and Mrs. Campbell isn't exactly the nicest neighbor to have… Aiden, we're together all the time anyway. I want you to move in with me. I love you, and I want to see you first thing before bed and first thing when I wake up. I hope you feel the same."

Aiden smiled at her, turning the key around with his fingers. "I do, Baby. You have no idea how much I want that too."

Hope grinned brightly. "So yes then? You'll move in with me? This is going to be so much fun! I'm going to love lying in your arms every night until I fall asleep and waking up to being in your arms. I'm gonna love being able to kiss you first thing in the morning, and—"

Aiden cut Hope off. "Hope! Stop. You didn't let me finish. I really want to move in with you. You have no idea how much I want to, but I can't. I just can't."

Hope's face fell.

"I'm sorry," Aiden said quietly, "but you and I both know it's best that I don't do that."

Hope looked at him in confusion, wondering if maybe she thought their relationship was more serious than he did.


	27. S2E3

**Days of our Haiden**

 **Season 2 Episode 3: Life Is a Highway**

Hope blinked wondering if she had possibly heard Aiden wrong. "No?"

Aiden shook his head. "I don't think that would be a good idea."

Hope looked down at her hands and began twisting the promise ring Aiden had given her over Easter. "Did I over exaggerate in my head how serious our relationship is?" She looked up at him. "Are you having second thoughts about us?"

He looked at her in confusion. "What? No! Of course not! How could you even..?" Aiden took her hands in his from across the table. "Baby, you have no idea how much I'd love to move in with you. But I don't think Ciara would like that very much."

Hope visibly relaxed. She smiled at him and gently squeezed his hands. "Is that all? Stefano had some health crisis so Andre went with him to Italy. Apparently there are specialists in Italy that can apparently help Stefano better than they can here, so Stefano has moved to Italy for an undisclosed amount of time to both get treated and to recover. Andre went with him to help take care for him. I don't know what the health crisis is. I'm assuming it has something to do with his diabetes? It could be something else. I don't know and I don't care. However, Chad and Abigail have moved into the mansion now to look after it. According to Ciara, they wanted to move out of their home and get a place with more room anyway, so the mansion is perfect for them. They offered Ciara a live-in nanny job, and she accepted. She won't be living at home anymore."

"What about her schooling?" Aiden asked; concern in his voice.

Hope smiled again. She loved that he had concern for her daughter. "She doesn't have to watch Thomas until the evenings, meaning she has plenty of time for school and homework. She promised me she would quit if it became too much."

"Well, what if it does become too much and she has to move back? Heck, what is Stefano has a miraculous recovery and comes back? Then what? Surely you wouldn't let her live in the mansion with Stefano and Andre back," Aiden reasoned.

"Well, from the sounds of it, she doesn't want to live at home anymore anyway. She wants to get used to living away from home before she goes to college. She'd probably just get her own place if the mansion doesn't work out," Hope assured him.

"And you're okay with this?" Aiden asked her.

Hope nodded. "She's gone through a lot at her young age and it's made her wise beyond her years." She raised an eyebrow. "Besides. I'm a cop. I will be looking out for her no matter where she lives." She kissed Aiden's hands. "But I love you for thinking about her."

Aiden shrugged. "What can I say? I love her like my own, just as you love Chase like your own."

Hope nodded. "That I do!" She raised an eyebrow again and smirked. "So, what do you say? Will you move in with me?"

Aiden sighed. "I just don't want us to rush into things too quickly. After what I did… I mean, Hope, the last time we were in your bed at your place, I… It could bring up memories. Bad memories for the both of us and… I know you've forgiven me, but I haven't. I want to take things slower so that you can have no doubt in your mind that I've changed. I ruined things before. I don't want to ruin them again. What we have is far too special for that."

Hope shook her head. "It won't ruin things. I promise! I trust you Aiden. I understand now why you did what you did. Lord knows I've done things that were just as terrible in my life. Some worse. So please, stop beating yourself up over it, all right?" She rubbed Aiden's hand against her cheek. "I love you." She kissed his hand. "And I want to have you in my bed every night."

Aiden moaned. "Boy would I love that too. Can I just have some time to think about it? Please?"

Hope nodded. She kissed his hand once more before letting it go. "Of course."

Aiden smiled. "Thank you."

Their food arrived then and the subject was changed.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"Howdy Yawl! Are you ready to give me your orders?" The waitress who was in full cowgirl attire and whose nametag read Jess asked coming back over to Chase and his friends' table with their drinks. They were at the new Western restaurant in town called Hoss' Round Up. The waiters and waitresses all dressed like cowboys and cowgirls and talked like them too.

"I'm ready. Are you guys?" Ciara asked her friends.

Every one nodded.

"Excellent! What can I rustle up for yawl?" Jess asked.

As Ciara, Theo, Claire, and Joey all took turns ordering, Chase looked at the waitress. There was something calming about her. She kind of reminded him of his mother. At least from what he remembered and from the pictures he had seen of his mom.

He remembered his mom, but not as well as he would like to. However, certain memories of her stuck in his head. He remembered once, not too long before she died, she took him on the carousel. She was afraid he'd fall off the horse, so she sat on it with him with him in front of her. He giggled as they rode up and down and she cried out "Yee Haw!" He remembered that he couldn't stop laughing, and it made her laugh as well.

The funny thing was, Chase couldn't remember anything about his mother's death. His father had told him she had committed suicide by shooting herself, but he didn't remember a time when she was suddenly just not there. At least, he didn't think he could. Come to think of it, his mom had died when he was such a young age, he had never really thought much about it. He had just kind of accepted the fact that it was only his dad and him.

He thought back to the day he had been thinking of the other day in school. When he was wearing those cool while Converse.

 _He realized no one was watching him and he toddled over to the shiny silver thing he saw on the table. He had to crawl up a chair to reach it. Yes. That's how it was. He remembered now. He grabbed it, then crawled back down to play with it on the floor. He was pretty sure it was a toy. It was funny looking. He wasn't sure what it did, but it sure looked fun. His dad and mom had both told him in the past to not play with it, but of course that only made it more appealing to him. It had a lot of moving parts…._

"Chase! Yo! Dude, it's your turn to order!" Ciara's voice broke Chase from his train of thought. He snapped out of his memory. "Sorry. Um, I will have the snake in the ground." He blushed. He felt like an idiot calling it that, but the menu had all kind of corny Western names for their food even though it was normal food. A snake in the ground was just a hot dog in a bun. It came with fries, which Chase was surprised they didn't have a corny name for as well.

"And I will have the piggies in a blanket and the pistol smoked Buffalo wings!" Jonah ordered.

"All righty then! I will go put your order in right away so the cooks can hurry up and rustle yawl up some grub!" Jess said before taking off.

Suddenly, a cowbell was heard.

"Yawl know what that means!" came a man's voice over the loudspeaker.

Jonah pumped his fist in the air. "It's bull riding time!" he shouted out along with the other knowing and eager customers. He then scooted out of his chair and ran over to where the mechanical bull was. He had made sure they had gotten a table right by it so that he could be the first to ride it when the time arrived.

Ciara, Theo, and Joey, all laughed, and jumped out of their seats, iPhones in hand, ready to take videos and pictures of him to post on all their social media accounts.

Claire stopped Chase as he was about to get out of his seat. "Are you okay?"

Chase nodded. "Sure! Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, you've been spacing out a lot lately. Do you have something on your mind?"

Chase shook his head. "I've just been thinking about my mom a lot lately. The waitress reminded me of her in an odd sort of way. She kind of looks like her a little."

"Oh." Claire smiled at him sympathetically, and gently squeezed his arm. You really miss her even after all these years, don't you?"

"Of course I do! What kind of question is that?" Chase shook his head, but smiled at her. "Now come on before we miss it!" He then took off for the mechanical bull, and Claire followed after him.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"So, do you want to come back to my place?" Aiden asked. "Chase told me they are seeing a movie after dinner, so we will have plenty of time to do whatever."

Hope smirked, and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by 'do whatever', Mr. Jennings?"

"I mean make love to you all night. I'm not going to sugarcoat it," Aiden said surprising her and not even bothering to keep his voice quiet.

A few people looked over at them.

Hope blushed. "Sh! Keep your voice down."

Aiden smirked; proud of himself. "You're not the only one who can be cheeky, you know." He winked at her.

Hope smiled, and licked her lips. "All right. I need to drive back to my place first though. I have a few things I want to get."

Aiden nodded. "All right. It will give me some time to prepare something myself."

So, together they walked back to Aiden's apartment complex, then kissed before parting ways. Aiden then went to the nearby Walmart, and Hope headed home to get an overnight bag, and to leave Ciara and Chase a note. She also had a little something else she had to take care of—something she was sure Aiden would love.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"Woo Hoo! Yee Haw!" Jonah was punching a fist in the air with one hand and hanging on for dear life with the other. He had ridden the bull three times already.

"Come on, Jonah! We're going to be late for the movie!" Ciara complained. They had already finished their food, but Jonah had wanted to ride it one more time.

"In a second! I gotta wait until they crank up the speed," Jonah said.

"Dude! A level three? You're going to fall off. Especially with just one hand!" Joey warned him.

"I'll be fine! I've mastered level two, so I'm pretty sure I can handle level three," Jonah insisted. He turned to the guy running the bull. "Crank it to level three please!"

The guy cranked it to level three, and Jonah laughed in happiness as the bull rocked him forcefully forward and back.

Jonah was doing pretty well until AJ Masterson from school entered with his best friends and girlfriend, Becca Thomas.

Jake and his friends snickered, and pointed at him when they saw him riding the bull.

"Hey, Everyone, look! It's a whale riding a bull! That's not something you see every day. "Free Willie!" AJ called out.

"Free Willie? No. Free the bull! That is way too much weight to be putting on that thing!" Becca said.

Their group of friends laughed.

"Hey you shut your mouth!" Theo snapped at them.

"What'cha going to do about it if I don't, Retard?" AJ asked.

His friends snickered, and high-fived each other.

Joey, Theo, and Chase started to head over to AJ, bent on attacking him, but the girls held them back.

"You know what? He's not even worth it," Ciara said, a hand grasping tightly to the back of Joey's shirt and the back of Theo's shirt.

Claire had placed a hand over Chase's shoulder. "Just chill. All right? There was a time when you called him that. Remember? You never know what some people are going through."

"At least I changed. Some people are always going to stay jerks and that is AJ!" Chase snapped.

"Get off the bull, Fatty! Don't break it before the rest of us can try it!" Jason Delemitri, AJ's best friend yelled out to Jonah.

Jonah looked over at him so distracted, it threw him off balance. He cried out as he fell off the bull. Then, to make matters worse, he ended up throwing up all over the mat.

"You're such a gross, pathetic, fat loser and you always will be!" Becca said to him, looking down her nose at him as he lie on the mat.

"Get out of his face before I punch you in _your_ face," Ciara said, stepping up close to Becca.

Becca laughed, and got in Ciara's face, her arms crossed over her chest. "I'd like to see you try!"

Ciara bitterly laughed. "Oh, I'm going to do more than try," she snapped, ready to throttle her.

"Nobody is punching anybody in the face! At least not in my restaurant. Now go back to your tables! We need to clear this mess up. It's a health hazard," the manager said, coming to the mat with cleaning supplies. Ironically enough, he was dressed in normal attire and spoke normal as well. There was no cowboy getup for him! He remained professional.

Claire and Ciara helped Jonah stand up.

"Are you okay?" Claire asked him.

"My self-worth isn't too good, and neither is my ego. No to mention I'm super embarrassed. Other than that, I'm great! Just great," Jonah said.

"Just ignore those stuck up bullies! They are jerks. There is nothing to feel bad or embarrassed about," Claire said gently.

Ciara nodded. "They're the ones who should feel bad and be embarrassed."

"I shouldn't have gone on the bull at level three after having just eaten, and I shouldn't have let them distract me," Jonah grumbled.

"Forget them! Let's just go to the movie and have some fun," Theo replied.

"You guys go ahead. I don't really have the money for a movie anyway," Jonah said.

"No worries. I can spot you," Ciara said to him.

"I appreciate that, but I'm still feeling a little queasy. I'm just going to go home," Jonah said.

"Do you need a ride? I can put your bike in the back of my car," Theo offered.

"Thanks, but the fresh air will do me good. "I'll see you in school tomorrow." Jonah then left.

"Should we follow him home just to make sure he's okay?" Claire asked.

Joey shook his head. "No, we'll miss the movie if we do. Let's just go. He's just embarrassed and probably needs some space."

They all agreed, then headed passed the mat that was currently being hosed down. They ignored the nasty comments from AJ and his pals as they walked by AJ and friends' table on the way out.

"Goodbye, Losers!" (From Becca)

"Even the bull had enough of that fatso!" (From Jason)

"Willie was freed!" (From AJ)

 _ **~*This love came back to me*~**_

There was a knock on his door. Aiden smiled, and opened the door. "Hello, Baaay-bay!" he said in his best Big Bopper impersonation from "Chantilly Lace."

Hope grinned. "Did you miss me?"

"Like crazy, Baby!" Aiden said. "Come here." He pulled her close for a passionate kiss.

She moaned, and kissed him back just as passionately, kicking the door shut behind her.

Aiden broke the kiss, then locked the door. He took her overnight bag from her, then took her hand with his free hand and led her to the bedroom.

There were candles lit all around the bedroom, and rose petals spilt all around the floor with a bottle of Champaign in an ice bucket on the bed stand waiting for her.

"Oh, Aiden, this is so beautiful. Thank you," Hope said.

"Anything for you, my love." Aiden dropped her bag down to the floor, then she pulled him in for a sweet kiss.

Aiden kissed her, then pulled away and licked his lips as he observed the fact that she had a trench coat on. "What's with the coat?" he asked nodding to her. "It's a warm night."

Hope smirked. "I'm glad you asked that. I didn't want anyone else to see me wearing this." She dropped the trench coat, revealing a very skimpy piece of lingerie on herself.

Aiden's mouth dropped open as he saw her in a very skimpy and very see-through black two-piece teddy.

Hope smiled big. "This was given to me by Jen at my bachelorette party. I never got to wear it for you…until now. Your mouth is watering so I take it you like it?"

"Like it? Baby I love it so much, it's making me weak in the knees!" he pulled her close, and brushed his lips against her left ear. "But it's got to come off ASAP."

Hope smiled. "I was hoping you'd say that." She gently pushed him down onto his back on the bed. She then leaned down to murmur in his ear, "You know, you can see me in things like this every night if you come to live with me." She lifted up his shirt and began kissing over his pectorals. "Or I can save you the time and energy and just get in bed naked. After all…" She kissed up his neck, her voice breathy, "You know what I like, and you'll need all the energy you can get for it."

"Keep talking like that and that's going to be ripped off you," Aden told her his voice filled with lust and desire for her. His voice wasn't the only thing suddenly filled with desire for her.

She pulled off her top revealing nothing underneath but the tiny piece of material that came with it to serve as underwear.

Aiden's mouth instantly went to her breasts, for it as his favorite part of her body.

He pinned her down beneath him and pulled off his tee shirt before pulling off her underwear and tossing them to the floor with his tee shirt.

They both kicked off their footwear, and then he undid his belt.

Hope helped Aiden get his belt, pants, and underwear off, and once they were on the floor, Aiden wasted no time in pinning her hands above her head and entering her.

She threw her head back and moaned, loving the feeling of having him inside of her.

As he moved over her he released her hands, while kissing her passionately on the mouth.

She wrapped her arms around him, her fingertips pressing into his back as her tongue played with his.

Her back arched as he kissed up her neck and continued to move over her, making the pleasure more intense with every move he made.

Her moans filled the room, and his echoed with hers. She was glad the kids were away at a movie. She was aware his neighbors might be able to hear her screams and moans. After all, who knew how thin the walls were, or how well the upstairs and downstairs tenants could hear. Still, she couldn't help it. He always made her feel _so_ good. That was one thing that had never changed.

His increasing moans were intensifying her pleasure. She cried out his name knowing she was close…

He seemed to sense this and made his thrust firmer as he kissed up the side of her neck.

She wrapped her legs around him and soon, his moans were matching hers. He was repeating her name over and over, which she knew was a sign that he was just as close to losing it as she was, if not closer.

It only took a moment longer before they had both reached their goal.

They kissed passionately, to wanting to let the other go just yet.

They then collapsed down beside each other, catching their breaths.

Hope then pulled him close and kissed him softly on the lips. "I love you."

Aiden looked in her eyes with love for her, and gently stroked her hair. "I love you too, Baby. I love you more with every breath."

They kissed some more.

Aiden broke the kiss. "All right."

Hope was confused for a moment. "All right what?"

"All right, I'll move in with you," Aiden explained.

Hope smiled big at him. "Really?"

Aiden nodded. "My neighbors will thank me. But we may want to consider getting our bedroom walls soundproofed. You get pretty loud, and I don't think Chase would appreciate that very much." He grinned.

Hope playfully swatted his shoulder. "I'm not that loud!"

Aiden shook his head. "Trust me, Baby. You are."

Hope pouted. "Well, it's your own fault for making me feel that good." She smirked. "Not that I'm complaining. But you can get just as loud."

"Not as loud as you," Aiden reasoned.

"Mm… We'll see about that…" Hope moved so that she as straddling Aiden's legs.

Aiden looked at her in confusion. "Baby, what are you doing?"

Sh smiled at him. "Seeing how loud I can make you." She then leaned forward.

Aiden moaned, his fingers instantly moving to tangle in her hair as he arched his back.

His breathing got heaver as her mouth began to work its magic on him. He suddenly had a feeling she was going to win this one.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"Back so soon? How was your dinner?" Jonah's Dad asked as Jonah entered the house.

"It was all right. I'm not feeling well. I think it was something I ate," Jonah said.

"That's what you get for not eating the nice healthy meal I made for you," Jonah's mother Beverly replied.

"You're right, Mom. I'm sorry. Next time I will stay home and eat the meal you cooked," Jonah said, heading to his bedroom.

"Do you need me to bring you in some Pepto?" Beverly called out.

"I'm fine, Mom. I just need to rest. Thanks." Jonah shut and locked his bedroom door, then headed over to his radio. His favorite station came on, but he didn't really pay any attention to the music.

He kicked off his shoes, then threw himself down onto his stomach on his bed and cried.


	28. S2E4

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **Season 2 Episode 4: Bad Day**_

"Are you sure you don't mind me moving in early?" Aiden asked Hope as she helped him carry boxes into her house. His lease wasn't up for two more weeks, but Hope had insisted on him moving in right away. He set his box down on the bedroom floor.

Hope set down the box she was holding, and raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you kidding me?" She pulled him close. "I get to have you in my bed two weeks sooner than planned. Why on earth would I mind?"

He stroked her hair. "I just really don't want to push anything too fast."

Hope smirked, then purred into his ear. "Trust me Mr. Jennings, I love it when you push things too fast."

Aiden blushed at her innuendo. "Baby, I'm being serious. I don't want to ruin us again."

"We're not ruined." Hope gently stroked Aiden's cheek with the back of her hand. "Aiden, I promise you, you're not pushing things too fast. All right? I'm the one who suggested you move in. Remember?"

Aiden nodded. "I know, but—"

Hope cut Aiden off with a finger to his lips. "No buts. Okay?" she said gently. She smiled at him.

He smiled at her too. "All right."

Hope wrapped her arms around him and kissed him lovingly on the lips, then rested her forehead against his. "I love you, Mr. Jennings. I want you here with me. We spent enough time apart. I don't want to spend any more time apart."

"We'll see if you still think that when I'm hogging the covers and taking up your closet and sink space," Aiden joked.

Hope smirked. "You're forgetting I have a double sink in my bathroom. And who says you're getting any of my closet space? You can have the drawers."

"Hey, I cannot keep my suits in drawers, thank you!" Aiden played along.

"All right. You can have half the drawers and half the closet," Hope replied.

"How did I go from having the drawers to myself to having to share them with you?" Aiden asked.

Hope shrugged. "I'm giving up half the closet, so you can give up half the drawers."

"I can get my own dresser in here then we'll both have our own drawers. I use the closet solely for my suits, and you use it solely for your dresses, then we'll have room for everything," Aiden suggested.

Hope nodded. "I like you drive a hard bargain, but I accept your proposal." Hope held out her left hand to shake. Then she blushed when she realized how it had sounded and looked. "You know what I mean."

Aiden smiled, and kissed her cheek. "I do." He winked at her.

Hope blushed even more. "Let's go get some lunch, then we can finish getting you moved in."

Aiden nodded his agreement. "Sounds good! And Hope?"

Hope pushed some hair behind her ear and looked up at him. "Hm?"

Aiden took her hands in his and looked her deeply in the eyes. "I know legally we are still married, but one day I will propose to you again, and when you say yes, it will be the happiest day of my life…"

Hope hid the fact that she was touched to tears. She smiled to cover up. "Who says I'd say yes?" She arched an eyebrow.

Aiden smirked. "Oh you'll say yes. You know you could never resist me—at least not for long."

Hope didn't verbally agree or disagree, but she smiled as Aiden kissed her cheek then led her by the hand to go get some lunch.

 _ **~This love came back to me.*~**_

Lani was so excited. It was finally Friday, and she and Rafe were on their way to the hotel. All she had to do was get over one little hurdle and she knew she would be all set.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Lani said as she and Rafe stopped at a burger joint for lunch. Rafe had driven two and a half hours, and after lunch, she was going to take over the remaining two and a half hours to their hotel in Chicago.

"Yeah, I'm really looking forward to seeing Bon Jovi. Growing up, I always wanted to go see them, but I never had enough money. All my mother would pay for us to see were mariachi bands," Rafe replied.

Lani raised an eyebrow. "Mariachi bands? Really? Didn't you get to go to _any_ cool concert growing up?"

Rafe nodded. "Oh yeah. Once I hit my mid-teens and started working, I was able to afford going to shows like Tears for Fears and Soul Asylum. Even so, Bon Jovi was always out of my price range."

They entered the restaurant and got seated. They ordered their drinks then looked over their menus as they continued their conversation.

"Well, this festival should make up for all the times you missed going to great concerts," Lani said with a smile at him from across the table.

Rafe smiled at her. "I'm sure it will!"

 _And after the concert will make up for all the time I had to wait for you while you were too busy messing around with Hope to notice me,_ Lani silently added, still smiling at him.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

 __"Are you all right?" Ciara asked Jonah at lunchtime. "You haven't seemed yourself all day today."

Jonah smiled weakly. "I'm fine. Really. I was a little embarrassed about last night, but it's cool. I'm over it." He grinned. "I still had so much fun riding that bull! I wanna do it again if they'll let me."

Joey pat him on the shoulder, then sat down next to him. "Next time just don't ride it after you've just eaten."

Jonah shook his head. "Don't worry. Lesson learned. So, how did you guys like the movie last night?"

Ciara rolled her eyes. "It was lame. I hate action movies. It's no fun seeing a bunch of things get blown up."

"Sure it is!" Chase disagreed.

Joey nodded. "It's the coolest! I loved the movie. How could you have not liked it?"

"I didn't like it either. It was lame and boring," Claire said, shaking her head.

"You're girls and we're guys. Of course you're not going to like it and we are," Theo reasoned.

"Next time, you're all sitting through a chick-flick since we had to sit through a boring action film," Ciara warned the boys.

"Ugh! I'd rather be shot than see a stupid chick-flick!" Joey said.

Chase was instantly taken back to a memory from his childhood again. This one took place around the same time as the memory that kept haunting him had taken place.

 _"I don't want that thing in my house!" Aiden snapped at Meredith. "We have a son who is barely four in the house who likes to play with anything he can get his hands on. What made you think getting a gun was a good idea?"_

 _Meredith was drinking a lot of something. Chase didn't know what it was she was drinking, but he figured she must be really thirsty judging by how much she was drinking. He was thirsty too._

 _"I need the gun because of_ you _. I know you're out to get me! You want to turn our son against me! You're already starting by keeping him away from me all the time," Meredith snapped._

 _"You're being ridiculous, Meredith! I am not trying to turn him against you. I just don't like him around you when you're drunk, which is 99 percent of the time lately. And what exactly do you think I want to do to you, Meredith? Hm?" Aiden snapped back._

 _"You want to murder me. You want me out of the way for good! I know you keep that ax in the closet. You're going to chop me up when I sleep!" Meredith accused._

 _Aiden shook his head. "You're being ridiculous! That ax in there so that I can chop wood to keep us warm in the winter. Or would you rather us all freeze? Anyway, if I were to kill you, I wouldn't be so messy about it."_

 _Meredith's eyes got big. "So you're going to poison me!"_

 _Aiden sighed. His voice softened. "Meredith, you need help. Please, get some for our son's sake if not your own or mine."_

 _"You're going to poison me. I know you are! You basically just admitted it!" Meredith insisted. "It's not messy that way!"_

 _Aiden rolled his eyes. "My_ gosh _, Meredith, I was joking! It was a bad joke, all right? I'm sorry! The idea of me trying to kill my wife and the mother of my son is absurd. I'd never kill anybody and you know that!"_

 _Meredith's eyes grew dark and scary looking to Chase. "I don't know any such thing, Aiden. You and I don't get along. We never really did. We were both young, stupid, and desperate for love after both having come off bad breakups. We never should have gotten married just because we had an infatuation for each other and you got me pregnant. Now that we're both older, you want out of it."_

 _Aiden shook his head. "You're wrong."_

Chase shook himself from his memory. At the time, he hadn't understand a hundred percent what his parents were arguing about, but he knew they were very mad at each other. He knew his mommy was afraid of his dad, and he knew his dad didn't seem scary to him, so he wondered why his mommy was scared of him.

"Dude, seriously, where do you go lately?"

Chase looked at Ciara upon hearing her voice. "Huh?"

"You space out all the time lately. What's got you so spacey?" Ciara asked.

Chase shook his head. "Nothing. I just got a lot on my plate with finals coming up and everything." He took a bite of his sandwich, hoping Ciara would drop it.

Thankfully, Claire pulled out a magazine from her backpack to show her, and Ciara turned her attention to the magazine.

Chase sighed. He didn't know why these memories were haunting him lately, but he was determined to eventually find out what they meant.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"I still don't know how I got so lucky to have you in my life again," Aiden said to Hope as they walked hand-in-hand in the park.

"I ask myself the same thing. How did I get so lucky to have _you_ in my life?" Hope said to him.

"After all I've done to you, I find it hard to believe that 'lucky' is a word you'd use about being with me," Aiden said quietly.

Hope stopped him and made him sit down with her on a bench. She set her purse on the other side of her and took his face between her hands. "Look at me. I am the luckiest woman on earth to have a man who loves me as much as you do. Yes, you made a mistake, but we all make mistakes."

"It was a pretty huge mistake. It was _beyond_ a mistake," Aiden corrected her. "Hope, I tried to kill you!"

Hope shook her head. "You weren't in your right mind—just like I wasn't in my right mind when I tried to kill Bo. Among others…"

"Except for the fact that I don't have any pills to blame for it," Aiden stated.

"True, but your son was threatened, and that is just as bad if not worse! I know firsthand what the threat to their child can do to a person. If someone was threatening Ciara's life like that, I'd do anything I had to do to protect her! So I get it. Please, Aiden. Stop beating yourself up about it."

Before Aiden could respond, a man wearing dirty looking jeans and a red plaid shirt grabbed Hope's purse and began to take off with it.

"Stop! Thief!" Hope yelled out, standing immediately to her feet.

Aiden stood up too and ran after the man. He was out of breath, but he kept running anyway, determined not to let the man get away with stealing his woman's purse! He was vaguely aware of Hope yelling something, but he turned her out. He caught up to the guy, but barely. He grabbed the back of the guy's shirt, but before Aiden could do anything, the guy turned around and punched him hard in the forehead, literally knocking Aiden backwards down onto the ground.

While Aiden was still startled and holding his head in pain, Hope showed up with her gun and badge. "Freeze! Drop the back and freeze right now or I swear to God I'll shoot you."

The man instantly froze and dropped Hope's bag.

"Lie down on the ground. On your stomach with your hands behind your back. _Now_ ," Hope said coldly.

The man did as told, his hands behind his back.

Hope placed a foot over the back of his neck to stop him from going anywhere, then she took out her cell phone and called Roman for backup.

"The police are on their way," Hope told the man.

The man tried to squirm.

"Don't move! Are you forgetting I have a gun and am not afraid to shoot it?" Hope put the gun to his shoulder blade. "Trust me on this one. You wouldn't be the first person I shot, and you probably won't be the last."

Aiden didn't know if she should be impressed at Hope's ability as a cop, or embarrassed that he had tried to impress her by taking out the perp only to get knocked onto his butt…literally.

Hope turned her attention to him. "Are you okay, Honey?" Hope asked, glancing over at Aiden.

"Aside from a bruised ego, and a bit of a headache, I'm fine," Aiden said, sitting up and placing a hand over his head. Normally, he welcomed any pet name she had for him, but now "honey" just seemed condescending to him.

"Lady I'm sorry, all right? I've come across hard times and need the money to help feed my family," the perp stated.

"First off, it's officer—not lady. Second, I'm not that gullible. I'm a police officer. I've heard all the sob stories before. Save it for the judge," Hope snapped.

Two uniformed officers whom Aiden didn't recognize then came over and cuffed the perp while Hope told them what happened. They made note of her statement then hauled the perp off to the station.

Hope picked up her purse, then headed over to Aiden. "I want to get you checked out. I believe Kayla's working today."

Aiden shook his head. "I'm fine, really."

Hope raised an eyebrow at him. "Aiden, he punched you in the head so hard you fell backwards. You could have a concussion. You're getting checked out. End of discussion." She held out her hand to help Aiden up.

Aiden sighed, and took her hand. He knew there was no arguing with her, so he stopped trying.

"I'm glad you got your purse back. Look at my baby taking on that guy. You were prepared!" Aiden said, smiling weakly at her.

She grinned. "I always carry my badge and gun on me. You never know when you're going to need to take someone down. As a cop, I'm _always_ prepared. And thank you for trying to take care of it for me. It was sweet."

Aiden winced. _Sweet_. Talk about condescending! "I'm just sorry I got knocked on my butt. I should have seen that punch coming."

Hope pat him on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it! It's the thought that counts. Anyway, you did manage to catch him before I did, so that says something right?"

Aiden nodded. "I guess so."

Hope kissed his cheek. "Come on. I'll drive you to the hospital. I want to make sure my love is safe and healthy." She took his hand and led him toward the car.

Aiden followed her, his head down. He felt like he had let Hope down again, and that was definitely not okay with him.

 _ **~*This love came back to me*~**_

 __Jonah and his friends were all in the gymnasium for the pep rally. The cheerleaders were going to present their new cheers and the basketball team was going to do some practice drills for the big game the following night.

The team's mascot, Timmy the Warthog, came in to get the crowd riled up. No one ever knew who was in the mascot costume, but Jonah kind of liked it that way. It made Timmy more mysterious, and Jonah, though he wouldn't even admit this to his friends, liked to pretend the mascot really was a warthog.

After Timmy did some flips and dancing, the cheer leaders came out and began to do their cheers.

Joey whistled and cat-called. He loved the cheerleaders because they were the prettiest seniors in school, and they wore tops and skirts both so short, he was surprise the school even allowed uniforms like those.

Theo was cheering for the team with the rest of the fans, though his eyes were mainly gazing adoringly at Ciara, who was gazing adoringly back at him.

Claire was cheering along with the rest of the fans as well. She tried to get Chase's attention, but he was too busy playing a game on his phone to notice her.

As for Jonah, he was watching the cheerleaders too, though not in the same way Joey was. Jonah was watching the head cheerleader, who of course happened to be Becca Thomas. He had to wonder why the meanest girls always got ahead in life. It was as if people actually liked when other people were mean to them. Jonah sure didn't, but others seemed to thrive on it.

Becca did a hurkey, and looked so sweet as she smiled her perfect smile and waved at everybody in the bleachers once she was finished with the cheer. She looked like she was the nicest person on earth. But Jonah knew better.

He looked at the second cheerleader in command, Lauren Schafer. She had long, beautiful chocolate brown hair and big blue eyes. Her skin was so milky white and perfect. She looked like she hadn't gotten a blemish a day in her life. She was thin and fit and in Jonah's opinion, could out cheer Becca on Becca's best day. He didn't know why Lauren wasn't head cheerleader. He had never had the courage to speak to Lauren, though he wished he had. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. He was afraid to talk to her, for surely someone as perfect and beautiful as she was wouldn't give him the time of day. Would they?

"And now, for a special treat before the guys come out. I think you all will enjoy this little bit of comedy I filmed last night!" Becca said.

Jonah felt his stomach drop. He suddenly had a feeling of dread and foreboding as he looked up.

A screen rolled down from the wall directly across from the bleachers, and then a video began to play.

Jonah was on the mechanical bull, pumping a fist in the air and holding on tightly with the other hand.

"Get off the bull, Fatty! Don't break it before the rest of us can try it!" Jason Delemitri's voice could be heard on the video.

Jonah saw himself look over as he got distracted, then heard himself scream like a girl as he fell off the bull and landed on his stomach before almost simultaneously puking all over the mat as Becca called him a gross, pathetic, fat loser.

The crowd on the bleachers was all laughing now and mocking his girly scream.

Jonah felt his cheeks blush hot. He hadn't remembered that girly scream coming out of his mouth at the time, but it must have.

Ciara stood up. "Stop laughing, everyone! Can't you see what a bully Becca is being?"

It was hopeless. No one could hear her over their laughter and mocking screams.

Eventually, the gym teacher and cheerleader coach came out, as well as the principal, and they all broke up the ruckus. Still, the video had been seen, and the damage had been done.

"Are you all right?" Ciara asked, side-hugging Jonah.

"Forget about them. They're all a bunch of jerks! Who cares what they think?" Claire asked, side-hugging him on the other side.

"Do you want us to kick her ass? I don't care that she's a girl. I'll kick her ass and like it!" Joey asked.

"I'll help!" Theo offered.

Chase nodded. "We'll get her and her asshole friends as well!"

Jonah shook his head. "Don't even worry about it. The best way to get back to them is to not react at all, and to act like nothing ever happened."

"Are you sure?" Ciara asked, gently rubbing his back.

Jonah nodded. "Please! So they showed a video of me falling and puking." He grinned. "It actually is kind of funny now that I'm over the embarrassment." He laughed.

Ciara, Joey, Theo, Claire, and Chase all laughed too, but it was halfhearted.

Jonah then reenacted his girly scream, and they laughed with him, this time more full heartedly.

 _It's better to laugh at myself than to be laughed at,_ Jonah thought. Though deep down, he was holding back the tears. However, he refused to let them fall before he was alone. The last thing he needed was for people to see him as a weak baby. He was already looked upon as a fat, pathetic, loser. He was not about to give them yet another thing to make fun of.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

 __Lani and Rafe arrived at the hotel.

"Let's get checked in and situated, then we can get ready for the concert and head over," Lani suggested.

Rafe nodded his agreement.

Lani went up to the front desk. "Hi! I have a reservation for tonight. We have two rooms under Price. Lani Price to be exact."

The guy behind the front desk smiled kindly. "No problem." He looked it up on his computer. "Hm… Is that for two nights? One room?"

"No. It's two rooms and one night," Rafe corrected him.

"Hm… I'm sorry, but I'm only seeing one room for two nights," the guy stated.

"Well, we need two rooms," Rafe replied.

The guy typed over the keyboard again. "I'm sorry, but because of the festival, we're booked solid. We only have the one room with one King-sized bed." He looked up at them.

"I don't know how that happened. Whomever took my reservation must have misunderstood me or put it in wrong," Lani said, playing dumb.

"We're sorry about that," the guy behind the counter replied.

"Are there any other hotels in the area that we could call?" Rafe asked.

The guy shook his head and winced. "I'm sorry, but because of the festival, I highly doubt it. We all get fully booked every year over festival weekend."

Rafe sighed. "I guess we have no choice then. Do you have a couch in the room, or do you offer cots?"

Again, the guy shook his head and winced. "I'm sorry, we're all out of cots, and no, there is no couch in the room you reserved."

Lani handed the guy her credit card.

"Looks like I'll be sleeping on the floor then," Rafe said with a sigh.

Lani smiled to herself. _We'll see about that…_

 _ **~*This love came back to me*~**_

 __"I _told_ you I was fine," Aiden said when he arrived back home with Hope. Kayla had looked him over. He had no concussion; just a headache.

Hope put her purse down on the table beside the door. "I know, but I wanted to make sure. Sometimes something can be going on with your body that you don't know about." She walked over to Aiden and pulled him close to her. "I love you, and it's my job to take care of you and make sure you're all right." She pushed some hair away from his forehead. "Does it hurt?" she asked, gently touching the slight bump on his forehead where he had been punched.

"It's fine. I just have a slight headache," Aiden replied. He was embarrassed. Hope shouldn't have to take care of him. _He_ should be the one taking care of _her_. Instead, he always ended up letting her down time and time again.

"How about the back of your head? You fell straight back. You're lucky your head didn't hit the bench on the way to the ground." Hope gently rubbed the back of his head.

"Hope, will you stop smothering me? I'm fine, all right?" Aiden snapped.

Hope's face fell, and Aiden hated himself yet again.

"Baby, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you." He gently stroked her cheek. "I appreciate you taking care of me. I do." He kissed her softly on the lips, her face between his hands. "I'm just a little embarrassed about what happened today. The headache doesn't help matters either."

Hope smiled weakly. "Let me get you some Tylenol. There is absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about! You're not trained in defense like I am. I've been doing this for years. Anyway, you at least tried to go after him. "My big, strong hero." Hope kissed his forehead. "I'll go get those pills and some water for you." She then ran off to the bathroom before Aiden could offer to get them himself.

Aiden sighed. Even her kissing him on the forehead made him feel belittled.

He walked over to the mantle where Hope still had a picture of Bo setting. He picked up the picture and looked down at it. "I bet _you_ never had any trouble protecting her. Of course not. You're thee Bo Brady. Cop legend." He put the picture down just as Hope came back in the room.

Hope handed him a glass of water and two pills. "Let's get you in bed. We can finish bringing your things over tomorrow."

"Hope, I'm fine. Thank you." He took the water and pills from her, and swallowed them down.

Hope took the glass from him. "Kayla said to take it easy. We can spend a lazy day in bed watching movies, and we can even order pizza in tonight. I know you don't think you need to take it easy, but please. Do it for me?" She bat her eyelashes at him.

Aiden sighed. "All right. Whatever you want." At least taking it easy was the one thing he _could_ do for her, he figured.

Hope grinned. "Thank you." She kissed his cheek, then set the glass on the coffee table and took his hand, leading him up the stairs to the bedroom.


	29. S2E5

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 2 Episode 5: Flashbacks, Memories, and Dreams_**

It was now Monday morning, a few days had passed since the purse snatching incident. The perp had gone to jail for snatching Hope's purse. The event was practically forgotten for Hope. However, for Aiden, it was a different story. He lie in bed, dreaming a dream that to Aiden, was very displeasing.

 _Hope was tied to a stake in the middle of the desert. She was pleading for someone to help her as a bunch of street thugs started circling around her._

 _Aiden tried to get to her, but he got stuck in quicksand. "Hope!" he cried out._

 _"_ _Aiden! Aiden, help me!" she screamed as one of the thugs caught up to her and began to run their hand over her shirt. Another thug ran his hand up her thigh, and another one was kissing her cheek._

 _"_ _Hope!" Aiden screamed. "You stay away from her!" he yelled to the thugs, who turned around and sneered at him._

 _"_ _What are you going to do about it? Huh?" the first thug asked. He and his buddies laughed, then went back to pawing at Hope._

 _After much struggle, Aiden was finally able to pull himself out of the quicksand, but by then Bo was already there, punching the thugs, swinging two of them around—one with each hand, causing the two thugs to collide into each other and get knocked out cold backwards. The third thug came up and tried to punch Bo, but Bo ducked, then kneed the third and final thug hard where it counted, causing the thug to cry out in pain and fall to the ground. Bo roughly pushed all three thugs onto their stomachs, then handcuffed them. He then untied Hope, who fell into his arms._

 _"_ _Oh, Bo! You saved me! I knew you would!" Hope kissed him passionately on the mouth, then turned to face Aiden with cold eyes. "Why didn't you help me?"_

 _"_ _Hope, I tried, but the quicksand… I couldn't get to you on time!" Aiden cried out._

 _Suddenly, he switched to another dream. Hope was screaming in pain. She was in the woods, lying on the ground with a fallen bolder on her leg. "Aiden! I can't move my leg! It's stuck! Please, help me!" she cried out._

 _"_ _Hold on, Hope! I'm coming!" Aiden ran over to her and tried with all his might to lift the bolder. Try as he might, he couldn't lift it. He saw a crowbar nearby and tried to lift the bolder with that. He channeled all his adrenaline. If mothers could lift cars off their children due to adrenalin, he could surely lift a bolder off the love of his life's leg, he figured. No. He tried with every ounce of strength he had in him, but he could not get that bolder to move._

 _"_ _Aiden, please! Help me! It hurts Aiden! It hurts so badly! I think I broke my leg!" Hope cried._

 _"_ _Hope, I'm trying! I can't! I need to go get help," Aiden said, tears in his own eyes at Hope's pain._

 _Suddenly, Rafe appeared out of nowhere. "I'll get it!"_

 _"_ _Rafe! Please!" Hope pleaded. "My leg hurts so badly! I can't get the bolder off!"_

 _"_ _I'll get it, Hope! Don't worry!" Rafe said. He then lifted the bolder like it was nothing, threw it across the woods, and watched it shatter against a big Red Wood tree. He then picked Hope up in his arms. "Don't worry, Hope. I'll get you to the hospital even if I have to carry you the whole way!" Rafe promised._

 _Hope smiled at him, her arms wrapped around his neck. "My big strong hero!" She then narrowed her eyes at Aiden, and nodded toward him. "He couldn't even lift the bolder with a crowbar! He's so weak. He's always been weak in more ways than one."_

 _Rafe snarled at Aiden. "I know_ that's _right!" He and Hope both laughed._

 _"_ _Some boyfriend you are!" Hope snapped at Aiden. She looked deeply and dreamily into Rafe's eyes. "Rafe is the one I_ really _need to be with! He can take care of me and protect me." She shot Aiden a nasty look again. "Unlike you. We're through Aiden. I wanna be with Rafe now." She turned to Rafe and they kissed sloppily._

 _"_ _Don't worry, Baby. I'll get you to the hospital and feeling better in no time," Rafe promised her. "You don't need loser Aiden anymore."_

 _"_ _Mm, I feel better already. I never did need Aiden," Hope said to him._

 _They both laughed, then kissed some more as Rafe carried her away._

 _"_ _Baby is_ my _name for her, Rafe! Not yours! How dare you? Hope, you do love me! I can do better! I promise! Just give me another chance. Please! Hope! Don't leave me! I can do better!" Aiden cried out after her._

"Aiden, wake up!"

"Huh?" Aiden was startled awake at the sound of Hope's voice. He slowly opened his eyes.

She was in bed with him, wearing nothing but the blanket that was over them. He wasn't wearing anything but the blanket either.

"You were having a bad, dream, Mr. Jennings. You were screaming at me to not leave you. What on earth did you dream?" Hope asked, concern on her face. She propped herself up on her elbow, and faced him.

Aiden sighed. He didn't want to lie to her anymore, so he told her about the dreams.

She smirked when he was done explaining. "Why was I tied to a stake in the middle of the desert, and why were street thigs surrounding me in the desert?"

Aiden shrugged. "Dreams don't make sense sometimes."

"Well, Bo and Rafe were and are excellent cops. Of course they could save me." She smirked. "But I don't think even Rafe could lift a big heavy bolder off my leg without help."

"It wouldn't surprise me if he could," Aiden grumbled.

"Hey." Hope, gently stroked Aiden's cheek. "Don't worry about a stupid dream. I'd never go back to Rafe—not when I have you." She kissed his cheek. "Even if he _did_ pull a bolder off my leg and carry me to the hospital. She smirked and winked at Aiden, an eyebrow raised.

Aiden sighed. "I know. The dream just got me a little frazzled; that's all."

Hope ran her hands over his naked chest and kissed it. "I have to shower and get ready for work. Don't let it get to you, all right?" She kissed his neck, jaw, and lips. "It was just a silly dream. I'm yours and only yours, and that's never going to change." She kissed his neck again. "You have your last day of community service today, right?"

Aiden nodded. "In an hour."

"Well, then you should get ready too. Tonight we can go out to dinner and celebrate." She kissed his cheek then climbed out of bed to go to the bathroom and get ready.

Aiden sighed as he watched her disappear into the bathroom. He knew it was just a dream, but it sure didn't feel like it was. Something had to change, but he wasn't sure what.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

Lani looked up as Rafe arrived at the station.

He blushed, and nodded at her. "Good morning."

Lani smiled and wished him good morning. "I had fun this weekend."

"Me too. Excuse me, I have to go finish some paperwork." Rafe disappeared into his office.

Lani shook her head. He was pretending to not have enjoyed what had happened this weekend, but she knew he had loved every second of it. She thought back to the weekend a few days prior.

 _They had gotten back from the festival on a high. They had had a blast at the festival, and every single act had been amazing and so incredibly good! Rafe and Lani had danced to Bon Jovi like there was no tomorrow. They even got to meet them, do to Lani flashing her badge…among other things._

 _They returned to their hotel room slightly intoxicated. They had taken a cab both ways, for they had known they'd be drinking at the festival._

 _"_ _You live for the fight when it's all that you've got!" they sang together as they opened the door to their hotel room._

 _Lani shut the door behind them and they laughed._

 _"_ _So, was Bon Jovi all you dreamed it would be?" Lani asked Rafe with a wink._

 _Rafe nodded, a big grin on his face. "Are you kidding me? It was even better than I dreamed it would be! I can't believe you got me in to meet them! Lani, you're the best!"_

 _Lani grinned. "You know it! I told you all we had to do was flash our badges and we'd get in. Being a cop has its advantages, you know. Cops and security stick together!"_

 _"_ _I think it might have had something to do with you flashing that security guard your breasts," Rafe noted._

 _Lani shrugged. "Whatever got us in, right?"_

 _Rafe nodded. "Right!" he grunted._

 _Lani handed him another beer. She had made sure to bring a lot of beer with them on this trip. "Here. Have another one to celebrate."_

 _"_ _I think I already had more than enough to drink tonight," Rafe said with a smirk._

 _"_ _Ah, come on! I'll have one too. Just one more for a nightcap," Lani pushed._

 _"_ _All right." Rafe smiled at her and took the beer. He took a long swing._

 _"_ _I'll be right back to join you. I have to go to the bathroom first." Lani took her bag then quickly got changed into her lingerie with the big red bow over the chest. She touched up her makeup and shook out her hair, making herself look as desirable as she could._

 _When she left the bathroom and revealed herself to Rafe, he set his beer down._

 _"_ _Woah," he said._

 _"_ _I thought we could have a little bit of fun tonight to celebrate meeting Bon Jovi," she purred._

 _"_ _Lani, I… We shouldn't. We came here as just friends. Remember?" Rafe asked._

 _Lani opened her own beer and downed it all in one long chug. She then set the beer down. "It doesn't mean we have to leave as just friends, does it?" She slowly sashayed over to Rafe, then whispered in his ear. "Come on. I've been waiting on getting with you ever since I came to Salem. You said you'd eventually give me a chance. So why not now?" She ran her hands slowly and seductively down his body. "Don't you want to feel good? You'll never know what we could be if you don't at least try, right? And do you really want to sleep on the hard floor when you could be sharing a nice comfy King-Size bed with me?"_

 _Rafe looked at her as if he were debating, then took one last swig of his beer. Finally, he set the beer down on the table. "What hell? Why not?" he asked._

 _Lani grinned. "That's what I'm saying!" She then pounced on him and hey had one memorable, delicious, wonderful, pleasure-filled night. However, in the morning, when she went to kiss him and get some more action, he pulled away and politely told her that the night before shouldn't have happened. He apologized for letting it happen, and told her he had just been drunk._

 _"_ _The truth is, Lani, I still have feelings for Hope. I know she is with Aiden now, but my heart is still healing. I'm just not ready for another relationship right now. I'm sorry," he had told her._

 _She had told him she understood. The truth was, she_ didn't _understand. She didn't understand at all what he saw in that woman._

 _The rest of the trip had been awkward. He had been friendly, but not as talkative. It was almost as if he weren't even there. He wanted to leave after second day of the festival, which was during the day. The festival ended at five. They had dinner, then he paid her back the money she had wasted on a second night at the hotel. He had dropped her off at her home, then went home himself. He would return the rental car the following morning. She hadn't seen him or heard from him again until now._

Lani sighed. "I'm not done with you yet, Rafe," she muttered. She was tired of him turning her down for that uptight Hope Williams, Brady, Jennings, whatever the heck she technically was. She had given him a chance to be reasonable and fall for her instead of Hope, but he was being stubborn. Well, it was time she kicked things up another notch. Whether he liked it or not, Rafe was going to be hers, and that was that.

"Sorry, Rafe," she said under her breath. "But I know what's better for you than you do. You'll see."

She smiled, then went onto plotting her next move.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

 ****Jonah arrived at school and headed to his locker. He opened it up to get books for his math class, which was his first class of the day. He opened his locker and a large heap of toy bulls fell out.

Suddenly, he heard laughter as Becca, AJ Jake, and Jason all laughed at him.

"How do you like your surprise?" Becca asked.

Jonah shot them a nasty look. "Thanks a lot!"

"What? Don't you like it?" AJ asked, putting on fake concern. "We just figured those would be easier to ride than that mechanical one."

Jason and Jake high-fived their best friend.

Students passing by saw the bulls on the floor and snickered. A lot of them began mockingly screaming like a girl.

"How you guys didn't get expelled for what you did to me at the pep rally is beyond me," Jonah grumbled.

Becca rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "Please! Like the principal is really going to expel the head cheerleader and the best basketball players she has."

"A week's detention is nothing! I spend most my time in there anyway," Jason quipped.

Becca laughed. "Plus it's a great place to make out. We're barely ever supervised." She pulled AJ closer to her.

"I know that's right!" AJ said with a grin before kissing her.

Jonah looked away.

"You better pick up the mess you made before you're late for class," Jake said, nodding at the toy bulls as the warning bell sounded.

AJ and crew then took off, still laughing at their little prank.

Jonah sighed, and began gathering up the bulls. He ditched them in the trash can as he daydreamed of what it could be like if he weren't so weak and pathetic.

 _He was thin and muscular. He had lost weight and gone back over to AJ and his friends to teach them a lesson._

 _"_ _Apologize," he ordered._

 _"_ _Make us!" AJ sneered in his face._

 _Becca laughed. "Yeah, make us!"_

 _Jonah cried out in an angry fury and picked AJ up by the shirt. He slammed him down to the ground and shoved one of the bull toys into his mouth. He then stood up and grabbed Jake, who had run over to fight him. Jonah easily picked Jake up and tossed him across the room, into a row of lockers as if Jake had weighed nothing._

 _"_ _Oh, you're dead!" Jason said, running over to him._

 _Jonah opened a locker door and Jason ran right into it, falling backwards onto the floor, now passed out cold from the collision of the locker door and his head._

 _Jonah whipped around to face Becca. "Can I help you with something?" he asked coldly, his eyes boring into hers as he began cornering her._

 _"_ _N-N-No," she stammered, "I-I-I'm good!" She took off down the hall while her boyfriend and friends moaned in pain from the ground._

Jonah grinned as he dumped the last bull in the trashcan and finished his daydream. However, his smile faded when the second bell rang, signaling he was late for math class.

He sighed, then grabbed his math book, and headed up to the principal's office for a late pass. He figured there was no use in telling the principal what really happened. She favored Becca and her friends since they were jocks. He'd just tell her he had diarrhea and was stuck in the bathroom. It would be embarrassing yes, but it couldn't be any more embarrassing than the bull incident, he figured. Anyway, at least this way she'd probably take pity on him…

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

 ****"I hate Mondays. The weekend always goes by way too fast. Now we have a full week to get through again," Claire complained.

"At least today's already half over with," Ciara reasoned.

"True, but we still have four more days to go after today," Claire. Said. They were all eating their lunch in the cafeteria. Claire took a bite of her turkey and cheese sandwich and looked over at Jonah who was looking at his leafy looking sandwich in disgust. "What is _that_?" she asked, nodding toward his sandwich.

Jonah sighed. "The most disgusting thing I've ever been given to eat. It's watercress. My mom thinks I should eat healthier."

"Here. My mom always packs me too much. She thinks I don't eat enough." Claire rolled her eyes at the thought of her mother. She then handed Jonah an extra turkey and cheese sandwich that was in her bag. "I swear she thinks I'm anorexic or something. She's always telling me to eat."

"Oh my gosh thank you!" Jonah said. He took the sandwich from her and began to eat it like he hadn't eaten in weeks. He was starving. The non-fat garbage his mother fed him at home just was not cutting it.

"Carrot juice? Really? Please! You can have one of my sodas. I like to have one to drink on the bus ride home, but I'm willing to give it up for you today," Theo said, handing Jonah a soda bottle.

"Are you sure? I don't want to take it from you," Jonah replied.

"Go ahead! It's not that long of a bus ride anyway," Theo replied.

"Thanks!" Jonah opened the bottle of ginger ale and it accidentally sprayed all over him.

Joey laughed. "Dude! It looks like it's raining Champaign on you!"

"Sorry! It must have gotten too shaken up in my backpack," Theo said.

"I'll go get some paper towels from the lunch lady," Ciara said, getting up.

Chase had watched the scene, and when Joey joked about Champaign raining down on Jonah, it triggered a memory…

 _Meredith was drinking a bottle of Champaign while Chase watched her. He was playing with his toy trucks and wondering why she was so thirsty all the time._

 _"_ _Champaign is so good, Chase! Just wait until you're allowed to drink it!" she said to him._

 _Chase put down his toy truck and walked over to her. "I want to try now!"_

 _Meredith shook her head. "No way. This is a grown up drink!"_

 _Chase had tears in his eyes. He stomped his foot. "I want to try now!" He began to cry._

 _"_ _Chase! Will you stop crying?" Meredith snapped. "You're killing my buzz!" She threw her hand down, causing the Champaign to slosh out of the bottle and onto the floor._

 _Chase saw this, and smiled. "You spilled some, Mommy!" He laughed._

 _Meredith started to laugh too. "You find that funny, don't you?" She splashed some more on the floor, only this time on purpose._

 _"_ _Mommy funny!" Chase said giggling harder._

 _Meredith began to giggle too. She then splashed some Champaign in the air. "Hey Chase, look! It's raining Champaign!"_

 _Chase was hysterically laughing now._

 _Meredith took his hand with her free hand, then began to dance with him, splashing Champaign high up on the air, causing it to drip down over both their heads. "It's raining Champaign!" she began to sing._

 _Chase sang and danced a long with her the best his four-year-old self could. "Raining Chahpain," he sang with her, pronouncing Champaign the best he could._

 _Just then, Aiden came in, looking incredibly angry. "What the hell are you doing?" he snapped at Meredith._

 _Meredith narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't talk that way around our son!"_

 _"_ _Well don't be drinking around and spilling Champaign on our son!" Aiden snapped. He pulled the bottle away from her. "We were saving this for our anniversary!"_

 _Meredith shrugged. "Oops!" She burped, then blew the fumes in Aiden's face. "At least you can still smell it."_

 _Chase giggled. "Daddy! It was raining Chahpain!"_

 _Aiden set the bottle aside, then picked Chase up. "You got sticky drink all in your hair. Let's go get you cleaned up, okay?"_

 _"_ _Okay, Daddy!" Chase continued to sing the raining Champaign song as Aiden carried him up the stairs._

 _"_ _I can give him a bath!" Meredith called up the stairs._

 _"_ _No thanks, Meredith! I think you've done more than enough for one night," Aiden grumbled._

"Chase!"

Chase was started awake from his flashback. He looked at Claire, who was calling his name.

"What?" he snapped, annoyed that someone was always calling him out of his memories.

"I asked if you wanted the rest of my chocolate chip cookies. I can't eat them all," Claire said.

"No thanks," Chase said. He was angry. He wasn't necessarily angry with Claire. He was just angry in general and he didn't know why.

"I'll take them! Thanks," Jonah said, snatching the cookies and chowing down on them.

Claire looked at him. "You're welcome." She then looked at Chase with concern over him having snapped at her.

Chase knew he should apologize to her, but right now he was just too peeved off too even though he didn't have a reason why. "Excuse me. I have to go to the bathroom," he said, then getting up to go to the bathroom and get away from the watchful eyes of his girlfriend.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

 ****"Tonight's going to cost a fortune. This place is more expensive than Chez Rouge!" Ciara said as she, Chase, Hope, and Aiden looked over their menus at dinner.

They were at the new French restaurant in down, Sacré Bleu. It was incredibly pricy, but Hope had heard the food was really good, and she wanted to do something special by treating her love to a delicious meal to celebrate the end of his community service. He had finished earlier that day.

"Don't worry about the prices. We're here to celebrate Aiden's finish of community service," Hope said.

"Which he had to do because he tried to kill you," Ciara said under her breath.

"Ciara Alice!" Hope snapped.

Aiden shook his head. "No, it's all right. She's right. Maybe we shouldn't be celebrating me being done. In fact, I should still be doing community service for the rest of my life. Nothing could ever make up for what I did."

Ciara sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. It's not easy for me, but I'm trying."

Aiden nodded. "I understand."

"Twenty bucks for a hamburger and fries? Really?" Chase asked. The restaurant also had American food, which was why Chase had agreed to come there.

Ciara smirked. "Twenty-two if you want cheese on it."

"Two dollars for cheese? So crazy!" Chase said.

"Order a cheese burger if you want. You can even order dessert after. I don't mind. It's my treat!" Hope said.

"Baby, are you sure? I appreciate you wanting to treat us to celebrate, but I'd be happy with Burger King. You know that, right?" Aiden asked.

Hope nodded. "I know. But I want to do this." She kissed his cheek. "You deserve it for being such a good boy and finishing your community service!"

Aiden winced. He smiled weakly at her. Good boy? It seemed to him that she was talking down to him now more than ever since that day he had gotten knocked onto his butt by that purse snatcher. He sighed. She saw him as a weak little boy, and he didn't blame her. Well, things were about to change, and he now knew just how to change them! There was no maximum age when it came to joining the police academy in Illinois—not in Salem anyway. If Hope wanted a strong, independent cop as a boyfriend who could take care of himself and her, then that it what he would be!

He grinned. He'd talk to Roman first thing in the morning.


	30. S2E6

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 2 Episode 6: Trouble_**

"You're kidding me, right?" Roman asked.

Aiden shook his head. "Not at all. I want to join the police force."

Roman looked at him cynically. "Does Hope know you want to do this?"

Aiden shook his head. "No. I wanted to talk to you first and get things started."

"You tried to kill Hope, and you want to be a police officer?" Roman asked, shaking his head.

"I only did that because my son's life was threatened. It was temporary insanity; and definitely not who I am today. Besides, it never went to trial, so I was never convicted and therefore, I can still be a police officer," Aiden reasoned.

Roman was still skeptical. "Why do you want to join the police force now, when you're in your mid-forties? Everyone else joins when they are much younger."

"I just want a change. I want to help keep the good in this world and the bad out of it." Aiden replied. "And with all due respect, you're a lot older than I am and are still one of the best cops around."

"I've had years to perfect my craft," Roman stated.

"Maybe so, but I can still join if I'd like to. There is no age maximum is there?" Aiden asked.

Roman shook his head. "No, but you'll have to pass a physical before you can become an officer."

Aiden shrugged. "Then a physical it is."

"Actually, before the physical, you'll have to fill out an application. If we like what we'll see, then you will have an entrance examination. Then, if you're still in it, you will have your physical. Let's just take this one step at a time, all right?" Roman asked.

Aiden nodded. "Anything I have to do, I'll do it."

Roman went into his desk and pulled out a stack of papers. He handed it to Aiden. You can take this home and fill it out, then give it to Hope to bring in to us. You do plan on telling her about this, right?"

Aiden nodded. "Of course!" He took the stack from Roman. "Wow. This is a lot to fill out!"

Roman smirked. "You think that's bad; wait until you see the entrance exam." He winked at Aiden and pat him on the shoulder, then walked off without another word.

Aiden stared at the stack of papers in his hands and sighed. "Well, I might as well get to work on it!" he said to himself as he headed out of the police station. He knew he had his work cut out for him, but he didn't care. If Hope liked the strong, hero type, then that was exactly what Hope was going to get!

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

Jonah came to school smiling for once. He had just received his allowance. For doing extra chores without asking, his father had rewarded him with ten extra dollars! Then, not knowing his father had already given him ten extra dollars, his mother had given him ten dollars for "being a good boy" and doing extra work around the house without being asked to. Normally, Jonah didn't like doing things like that. It made him feel like stealing. However, it wasn't _his_ fault if his parents made a mistake. At least, that's how he was looking at it. He just really wanted to be able to get some new clothing—clothing that would actually fit him correctly and wouldn't be embarrassing to wear.

"Look at you all happy!" Claire said to him as she showed up at her locker which was right across from his.

Jonah grinned. "My parents gave me my allowance, plus an extra bonus. I've been saving up for two months and now I have two-hundred and twenty dollars to spend on new clothes!"

Claire grinned. "Really? I wish I had that much to spend on clothes. My mom makes me put half my allowance into a savings. The other half I spend on mainly makeup. You're lucky you're a guy and don't have to buy makeup. Makeup is expensive!""

"I was kind of hoping that you and Ciara could come to the mall with me after and help me pick out some clothes that would make me look cool!" Jonah said.

Claire grinned. "I'd totally love that, and I know that Ciara would too! I can at least get o _n_ e outfit for myself when I'm there if nothing else. I mean, a girl can't go to the mall without buying something, right?"

"It gives you the perfect reason to shop!" Jonah said with a nod.

Claire grinned. "I like the way you think! I gotta get to Trigonometry. Ugh! You are so lucky you don't have to take that class. My mom insists it will help me get into a better college though so I have to take it." Claire rolled her eyes. She then smiled at Jonah. "See you in English after!"

Jonah smiled. "See you," he said with wave.

Jonah counted his money again and was about to put the envelope he kept it in back in his locker, when suddenly, a hand grabbed his wrist—hard.

"What do you have there, Fatso?"

Jonah glared at AJ. "My name's not Fatso."

"I'm sorry— _Jonah_." The sarcastic tone in the way AJ said his name, showed to Jonah that AJ really wasn't sorry. AJ nodded at the envelope. "What do you have in there?"

"It's nothing! It's just some magazine clippings Theo gave me," Jonah lied.

"Let me see them then," AJ ordered.

"You wouldn't like them. They're just about one of his video games you find lame," Jonah continued to lie.

"You're such a liar! I overheard you talking to Claire. I know it's money," AJ said.

"Well, it's my money—not yours—so it's none of our concern," Jonah said, starting to shake a little. He knew where this was going, and he didn't know how to stop it.

Jonah reached in with his hand that wasn't still gripping Jonah's wrist, and he pulled at the envelope.

Jonah held on tightly to it with his freehand. "No! That's my money! I worked hard to get it! Get your own money!"

AJ removed his hands from Jonah's wrist and the envelope, and quickly grabbed some of Jonah's curls. He yanked his head back—hard. He then punched Jonah in the stomach.

Jonah cried out in pain and discomfort. Instinctively, he let go of the envelope. It fell to the floor.

AJ let go of Jonah, and Jonah doubled over in pain, grabbing his stomach. All he could do was watch as AJ quickly snatched up the envelope, and stuffed it in his backpack. "See ya later, Fatso! Thanks for the money!" AJ said, he started to leave. He then turned back to face Jonah. "Oh, and if you tell anyone what just happened, I'll smash your fat face in, Loser!" AJ shot him a warning look, then took off down the hall.

Jonah knew that was the last he'd ever see of his money, and now he wouldn't even be able to buy a pair of socks to show for it.

Not many students were in the hall. Most of them were already off to class, or getting one last bathroom break in before class. Those who were in the hallway wouldn't even meet his eyes. No one would help him. No one wanted to get on AJ's bad side.

Jonah rubbed his stomach and took a moment to catch his breath again. He hated the feeling of getting the wind knocked out of him.

Once he was able to catch his breath, he stood up straight, grabbed his books, and then shut his locker. He locked it even though he had no reason to now.

He then took off for class, holding back the tears. His father always told him that boys and men weren't supposed to cry for it showed their weakness, so Jonah always saved his tears for in private. Class was going to start soon, and there was no time to cry in private now. It would have to wait.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

Aiden arrived home to start filling out the paperwork. Hope was at work, but she was supposed to come home for lunch so that they could go out together.

He sat down at the kitchen table and looked over the form. He began to fill it out. He noticed the application warned that a background check would be done on him. He didn't exactly enjoy the thought of his background being looked into, but now everything was out in the open. He had no more secrets. He sighed, worried as he wondered what him having tried to kill Hope could mean for his new career choice. He had never been convicted, but they could still reject his application, he knew. True he had gone temporarily insane due to the threat to his son, but still… That didn't look good for a police officer. Though, if Hope could put in a good word for him, he knew that that would help a lot.

The door opened and closed. "Aiden? Are you home, my Love?"

Aiden smiled. "I'm in the kitchen!" he called out.

A short moment later, Hope appeared in the kitchen. She set her purse down on the counter and smiled when she saw him. "Hey, are you ready to go out to lunch?"

Aiden nodded, and stood up. He walked over to her and placed his arms around her waist. "That I am." He kissed her softly on the lips, and she hungrily kissed him back.

When they broke the kiss, she looked over his shoulder, and nodded toward the paper on the desk. "What's that?" She walked closer to it. "Is that an application to join the police force?" She picked it up, then looked at Aiden in confusion. "Aiden, why are you filling this out?"

"Well, I've been thinking about changing careers and joining the police force," he said simply.

Hope looked at the application, then at him, a slight smirk on her face. "You're joking, right? Roman gave you one of these so you could play a prank on me."

Aiden shook his head. "Nope! I really want to join."

Hope laughed. "Aiden, stop that!"

Again, Aiden shook his head. "I'm being serious, Hope! I wanna join the police force."

Hope's smile faltered. "Why? I thought you loved being a lawyer."

Aiden nodded. "I did, but things change. I want a change in career."

Hope raised an eyebrow. "So you decided to become a police officer?" It came out as more of a statement than a question.

Aiden nodded. "That's right!"

"Aiden, you tried to kill me. I may have forgiven you, but the police force may not be so forgiving," Hope reasoned.

Aiden nodded. "I thought of that, but maybe if you put a good word in for me they'd be willing to overlook it?" He wrapped his arm around her from behind. "Maybe if you remind them that you've not only forgiven me, but are still madly in love with me they'd forgive me too?"

Hope hesitated. She put down the application, and Aiden let go of her so that she could turn to face him. "Aiden, are you sure you're cut out for this? Being a police officer isn't like it's shown on the movies and TV. It can be hard work!"

"I'm willing to work hard," Aiden said with a shrug.

"I know you are, my Love, but it can be physically demanding," Hope reminded him.

"I know that. Rafe and Bo handled it just fine. So can I," Aiden said confidently.

"Aiden, Rafe and Bo were much…" Hope trailed off.

"Rafe and Bo were much what? Stronger?" Aiden was hurt. "I can be strong too you know."

"I'm sure you can, but—"

Aiden cut Hope off. He nodded at her. "You handle it just fine, and you're a woman!"

Hope just crossed her arms over her chest and shot him a look. "I know you didn't just insinuate that women aren't as capable as men!"

Aiden shook his head. "I just meant that men were built to have more strength than women."

"Not all me and not all women," Hope narrowed her eyes at Aiden.

"Well, I am! Heck, I was strong enough to attack you wasn't—" Aiden realized what he had just said in anger, and immediately stopped himself. "I'm sorry! I was just trying to make my point and I used a very bad and inappropriate way of doing so."

"You think?" Hope snapped; anger flashing in her eyes.

"Look, I said I'm sorry, okay? I never wanted to bring that up again. I just don't appreciate you laughing at me and having no faith in me when I'm serious about a career choice!" Aiden defended himself.

"And I don't appreciate you insinuating that men are better than woman at anything," Hope said coldly.

"I think we should cancel lunch. I'm not hungry anymore," Aiden grumbled.

"Good idea. I'm suddenly not hungry anymore either," Hope agreed.

"I should be getting back to work." Aiden then left the kitchen, and slammed the front door after leaving the house.

Hope sighed, and looked at Aiden's application. She then set it back down on the table, grabbed her purse, and took off to get something quick for lunch. She wasn't too hungry, but she knew she had to eat to keep up her strength—her strength that could overpower any man, any time, and any day, she thought angrily.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

Lani hid in the shadows of the part of the park that was well known for drug trafficking. She wasn't on the job. She was on her lunchbreak. She had plans that no one at the police station could ever know about. This was for her own gain. She had business to deal with, and right now it had nothing to do with police work, but just the opposite.

She watched as a guy who looked to be right out of the 90's grudge fad with his dirty, long blond hair, ripped jeans, and red plaid shirt took money from a pimple-faced kid and handed him a bag of cocaine.

"Pleasure doing business with you," the guy said as the teen nodded at him, then ran off.

Once the dealer was alone, Lani headed over to him. "Hey. I need you to get me Rohypnol. You know what? Better get me two," she said confidently.

The guy smirked. "You do know that's the date rape drug, don't you?"

Lani nodded, and crossed her arms over her chest. "Of course I do! I'm not an idiot."

"Well, most women don't buy that drug. It's the men who use it; not the other way around. Or are you a lesbian?" the guy laughed.

Lani rolled her eyes. "What I want it for is none of your business! Look, can you get me the goods or not?"

"Oh I can give you the goods! I'll just need a few hours, and it will cost you a hundred bucks a pill," he replied.

"That's robbery!" she snapped.

He shrugged. "Supply and demand, Darling!"

"I'm not your darling," Lani said coldly. "All right, fine! Have it ready by five-thirty. I don't get off work until five."

He shrugged. "Whatever. I'll be here as long as your two Ben Franklins come with you."

Again, Lani rolled her eyes. "Don't worry. You'll get your money. This better be top quality stuff. If you're playing me…."

"I'm not. Please don't insult my reputation!" the guy said, almost sounding angry.

Lani narrowed her eyes at him. "See you at five thirty." She then took off without looking back.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

"Hey, Jonah! Claire told me you want to go shopping for new clothes after school. I'm totally down for that," Ciara said to Jonah as he entered their History class that day.

Jonah's face fell, and he sat down in his seat. "I can't anymore. My parents talked to each other and found out they each gave me ten extra dollars. My mom texted me, mad that I let her give me extra without telling her that my dad already gave me extra. They want the money back."

Ciara raised an eyebrow. "Just the extra twenty you got though, right? Surely they wouldn't take away the two months allowance you saved up!"

Jonah blushed. "Just the twenty, but they grounded me for a week, so our trip will have to wait."

"Oh. Bummer. Well, maybe after your sprung we can go," Ciara suggested. "You can still have new clothes for camp!"

Jonah put on a smile. "Yeah, that sounds fun," he said, trying to sound as sincere as possible.

Ciara gave him a sympathetic smile, then turned her attention to Theo.

Jonah sighed. He could only hope she'd forget about it come the end of the week.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

Hope came home to a living room full of tulips in a variety of colors. There were purple ones, red ones, pink ones, white ones, orange ones, and yellow ones. There were even dual colored tulips there. There had to have been a good ten dozen tulips that filled the living room.

Aiden walked out of the kitchen with a red rose in his hand and handed it to her. He kissed her on the cheek. "Will you please forgive me for being a chauvinist jerk?" he asked. "And for bringing up that night? My gosh, I sounded like I was bragging that I… It's unforgivable how I acted."

Hope set her purse down and smiled. She took the rose from him and sniffed it. "I know you didn't mean it. It's not unforgivable. Don't worry. If anything, I'm the one who's sorry. I should have taken your career change more seriously. I was just surprised. I thought you loved being a lawyer. You never showed any interest in being a police officer before."

Aiden nodded. "I know, but lately I've just felt called to a change. I really want to become a police officer and learn how to protect people—especially you and the kids."

Hope kissed him softly on the lips. "That is so sweet of you. If this is really what you want to do, then I will support you a hundred and ten percent. I'll even help you fill out the application _and_ I'll put that good word in for you with the board."

Aiden smiled. "Really?"

Hope grinned. "Really!"

"I love you so much! Thank you," Aiden said to her. He hugged her.

Hope placed her rose into one of the tulip vases, then pulled Aiden back into the hug. "I'd do anything for you, my Love. And thank you for the flowers. They're beautiful."

"Not half as beautiful as you," Aiden said to her.

Hope took his hands in hers. "Why don't we go upstairs to the bedroom so that I can thank you properly for all these beautiful flowers?"

Aiden licked his lips, his eyes suddenly filling with desire for her. "And so we can work up an appetite for dinner?"

Hope grinned. "That too!" She laughed as Aiden quickly picked her up.

They were just about to head upstairs when the door opened, and in came Chase.

Aiden set Hope down so as not to gross him out. "Son! Welcome home! You're not hanging out with your friends today?"

Chase shook his head. "No. I actually wanted to talk to you about something."

"Oh? About what?" Aiden asked him.

Chase sighed. "It's about Mom. I've been having memories about the last few times I had with her before…before she died."

Aiden felt his face pale, and he looked at Hope, whose face was also pale.

They both looked back at Chase, hoping he didn't want to talk about what they thought he wanted to talk about.

 ** _~*This love came back to me*~_**

Lani went back to the park right at 5:30 as planned.

Her dealer saw her, and nodded at her. "Do you got the Benjamins?"

Lani nodded. "I got the Benjamins, but I'm not giving them to you."

The dealer scoffed at her. "Then I'm not giving you the roofies!"

Lani smirked, and took out her badge from her purse, flashing it at him. "Oh, I think you are!"

He tried to run, but she quickly reached out and grabbed his sleeve.

"Let go of me!" he yelled.

"The way I see it is you get arrested and I get the drugs for free anyway, or you don't get arrested, and you _willingly_ give me the drugs for free. You didn't see me, and I didn't see you," Lani said simply.

The guy narrowed his eyes at her. "That's blackmail, and abusing your badge."

Lani narrowed her eyes right back at him and crossed her arms over her chest. "Do I look like a cop who cares about the rules?"

He scowled, and tossed her the drugs. "Next time you need drugs, go hassle someone else. I'm done with you."

Lani smirked. "And I'm done with _you_."

"Just remember, if I go down, you go down with me," the dealer snapped before taking off through the woods.

Lani rolled her eyes. She wasn't scared of him. The last place a druggie would want to go is the police station, and the last person he'd want to talk to is a police officer. She looked at the two roofies. Anyway, she had much bigger fish to try.

She headed home to start putting more of her plan for Rafe into action.


	31. S2E7

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 2 Episode 7: One Way or Another_**

Hope led Chase over to the couch, and had him sit down in the middle. She sat to his left, and Aiden sat to his right.

"What are you remembering about your mom?" Aiden asked, trying his best to hide the concern in his voice.

Chase shrugged. "Not much. I've just been having scattered memories about her lately. I remember she liked to drink a lot. I remember one day we danced while she splashed Champaign in our hair."

Hope raised an eyebrow. "What was she doing drinking around her four-year-old son?"

Aiden looked at her. "That was Meredith for you. She had a bit of a drinking problem. Unfortunately, she didn't let our young son being around stop her addiction." He turned back to Chase. "I'm not trying to badmouth your mother. She was a good woman who just needed help with an addiction."

Chase continued. "I remember you and mom used to fight a lot. I remember you yelling at her and not allowing her to help give me a bath after she got the Champaign in my hair."

"You remember that? You were only four!" Aiden said in surprise.

Again, Chase shrugged. "I don't remember much about mom. I just have bits and pieces here and there. That was one of those memories that just stayed with me for some reason."

"Chase, Honey, do you remember anything else? Any other memories?" Hope asked quietly. She placed a hand over his shoulder.

Chase nodded. "I remember small things. I remember laughing with her on a merry-go-round horse."

Aiden grinned. "We used to take you to the county fair whenever it would come to town. You loved it! That was the first ride your mother ever took you on. You were so excited to finally be old enough to ride on a ride."

Hope smiled at the thought of Chase so tiny. _So far so good,_ she thought. The memories Chase had been having were harmless. It was normal for a son to miss his mother who died way too soon.

"Then there is one other memory. I remember you taking away my white Converse shoes that I loved," Chase said to Aiden.

Aiden's smile faltered. "You remember those?"

Chase nodded. "They were so cool! They were my favorite pair, but one day you took them away from me and wouldn't let me wear them anymore. Why was that?"

Aiden felt his stomach churning as he thought back to all the work he had gone through to hide Chase's bloody clothes—those shoes included—along with any other evidence that Chase had accidentally shot and killed his own mother.

Aiden cleared his throat. "They were really dirty and worn out. You needed a new pair."

"I wish you had gotten me another pair just like them then," Chase said.

Aiden and Hope glanced at each other, not being able to mask their worry and concern too well.

"I don't really remember much about the last day mom was alive. I actually can't even pinpoint the last day she was alive. It almost seems like she just stopped existing one day," Chase said to his dad.

"In a way, that's what happened," Hope said. "We're all going to just 'stop existing' one day."

"I remember being told not to play with something. You and Mom were fighting about her having it," Chase said to Aiden. When Mom wasn't looking, I crawled over and took it from the shelf she had it on. I was playing with it. I'm not sure what it was… My mind is too fuzzy when I try to see it in my head clearly."

Aiden tried his best to remain calm. "I think it was a glass figurine. I didn't like your mother having all those glass animal figurines she used to collect, but she kept collecting them anyway. I was always afraid you would break one, and then cut yourself on the glass."

Chase shook his head. "I don't remember it looking like a figurine though. I remember it was kind of big, whatever it was."

"I don't know. Your mother liked to collect some pretty big figurines! The elephants were _huge_ figurines. She even had a few dinosaur ones. Come to think of it, those were your favorite. You probably had a dinosaur one in your hand." Aiden hoped Chase believed his lies.

"I don't even remember mom having a glass animal figurine collection," Chase stated.

Aiden glanced at Hope. _That's because she didn't,_ he silently told her with his eyes.

Hope smiled, and gently rubbed Chase's shoulder. "Well, I don't know about you, but I certainly don't remember every single detail about what my father had growing up!

Aiden shook his head and laughed nervously. "I barely remember what I had for breakfast this morning!"

Hope laughed with him. "I know, right?"

Chase still looked unsure. "I know Chad said before that Marlena helped him unlock some of his memories. Do you think Marlena could do that for me too?"

Aiden looked at Hope in a panic.

Hope quickly shook her head. "I'm sorry, Chase, but Marlena was just telling me the other day that she is at her max with clients and won't be taking any new ones until next year. Anyway, I don't think you need a psychiatrist for something small like that. Honey, you were so young. Most memories can't even be retrieved from that age. Your brain just didn't have the capability or capacity of storing the memories since it wasn't fully formed yet at the time."

Aiden nodded. "It is only capable of holding a few select memories at that age. That's why we don't remember much if anything about being a newborn, infant, or even toddler."

Chase sighed. "It's just so frustrating to not be able to remember! I want to be able to remember mom better."

Hope stroked is hair and gave him a sympathetic smile. "I know, Honey. Maybe more memories will come to you on their own, and maybe they won't. But you will always have pictures, and the memories you do have."

"And I can tell you about some good memories you had with her. Whenever you want to hear some, all you have to do is ask!" Aiden said with a smile.

Chase nodded. "I'm going to go lie down for a bit. I'm tired. What are we doing for dinner?"

"Wanna order a pizza in?" Hope asked. "We can get sausage and pepperoni, just as you like!"

"Sure. Whatever." Chase then headed up the stairs to his bedroom.

Aiden sighed. "Well, _that_ was close! Thank you for helping me out. I was sure he was going to start remembering…" He sighed. "Well, you know."

Hope slid over closer to him, and ran her fingers through his hair. "Hopefully he won't remember that is was a gun he was playing with. What was it doing on a shelf low enough for him to reach it anyway?"

Aiden shook his head. "Meredith was always moving it. She loved to play with it when she was drunk. I tried hiding it from her, but she always found it somehow no matter how well I hid it. She wasn't very responsible when she was drunk. That unfortunately meant placing the gun dumb places."

Hope sighed. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder. "Well, I guess all we can do now is wait it out, and pray he doesn't ever remember."

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "And if he does?"

Hope kissed Aiden on the cheek. "If he does, we'll deal with it together as a family, and help him get through it."

Aiden kissed the top of her head, and gently stroked her hair. "I love you. You know that right?"

Hope smiled. "I know, but it's still always nice to hear."

Aiden smiled as well, and he kissed her lips before going back to playing with her hair.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

Lani had big plans for the 4th of July. The Horton Town Square was throwing a Fourth of July BBQ bash. She would be attending it for her father and Theo's sake. But the bash wasn't what she was looking forward to. No, she was looking forward to the fireworks. She wasn't looking forward to the fireworks because they were pretty, or because they were a Fourth of July tradition. No. She was looking forward to them because that is when she would lure Rafe away.

She had it all planned out. First, she would arrive at the party, having ridden with her father and brother. She would mingle with them and not say much to Rafe. After all, she knew he would only push her away if she came on too clingy. However, after dinner, and after it got dark and the fireworks were about to start, she would give him a drink laced with the two roofies she had gotten that drug dealer to "donate" to her. She had chosen two instead of one in order to make sure that Rafe would be out for quite a while. After all, she couldn't have him waking up before she was ready for him to.

Next, she planned on sneaking him through the woods while he was still with it enough to walk. She would have a rental car parked on a back road deep into the woods. No one ever used that road anymore because there was nothing out that way but woods. Hunters sometimes used it, but no one would be hunting at night. She would have Rafe wait in the car while she went back to the party, and said goodbye to her father and brother. She'd tell them she had ran into a friend who was going to give her a ride home. Then, she would leave, hop into the rental car where Rafe should be passed out at that point, and head to her secret location.

She had scouted out a few places, and had eventually decided upon an old abandoned house. It was listed as condemned, but it didn't bother her. It was up on a hill, secluded from the rest of the town in the middle of nowhere. It was about two hours from Salem. The other day, she had decided to drive out of Salem on her day off to look for the perfect spot. She wanted something a little ways from Salem so that no one in Salem who might be looking for him would be able to find him—at least not in time.

She had traveled for two hours before she had come across the place and she couldn't believe her luck when she saw it. The windows were boarded up, and the doors were locked tight, but she found a window that would be easy enough to break into. She knew she could always board it back up later so as not to alert anyone that someone had broken in.

Lani smiled as she thought of her plan. She then headed up to the counter, for she was next in line. It was time for a crucial part of her plan.

"May I help you?" the friendly airline employee asked her.

Lani smiled. "Yes. I'd like to buy a one-way advanced plane ticket to Lebanon, Missouri for July 3rd, please—first class and the earlier the flight the better. I'll be paying in cash."

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

 ****The next day in school, Jonah popped another button between classes. He sighed as he picked the button up off the floor. "Of course it would be _that_ button!" he grumbled; annoyed. He had already lost two top buttons from other times wearing the shirt. His mother wouldn't let him get rid of the shirt because she didn't want to waste a shirt that still buttoned up high enough. However, now that yet another button from the top had popped off, the shirt was now way too low-cut.

"Do you need some help? I have a travel sewing kit in my locker. You can never be too careful when you're a cheerleader. I always keep it with me just in case I rip something."

Jonah looked up and was surprised to see Lauren Schafer, the cheerleader he had been crushing on since he had first laid eyes on her at the beginning of the year. "Hi…Uh…Yes… But I don't know how to sew." He blushed.

She smiled. "No worries!" She went into her locker and took out the kit. "I can sew it for you." She winked at him.

He smiled. "That's very kind of you. Thank you."

"Hm…" She looked at his other buttons, then back at her sewing case. "Lucky for you, the thread is the same shade of blue as the blue I have." She smiled and winked at him.

Jonah grinned. "Even if it wasn't, any color is better than having my chest exposed. Aint no one wanna see that, am I right?"

She giggled. "Don't be so hard on yourself! Now stay still. I don't want to jab you." It took her only a minute to sew the button. She even buttoned the shirt back up for him when she had finished sewing. "There! Good as new." She gently patted his chest.

"Thank you so much, Lauren! I really appreciate it." Jonah grinned.

"You're very welcome, Jonah! I'm just glad I could help," she said sweetly.

"You know my name?" Jonah was shocked. He didn't even think she knew he existed!

"Of course I know your name! You're the funniest guy in school, and I love to laugh." Again, she smiled and winked at him, then she put her sewing kit back in her locker and locked it up.

She looked at her watch. "We better get to class. We have one more minute before we're late!"

Jonah nodded. "I have math. Yuck! I wouldn't mind being late for _that_!"

Lauren laughed. "I hear ya! Thankfully I don't have math just yet. I have English. I love English." She started to take off. "See you around!" she said without looking back.

Jonah grinned and waved to her even though her back was to him. "See you around!"

He headed to class smiling the whole way there. Not only did Lauren know he existed, but she had fixed his button for him and told him she'd see him around! Finally, something was going his way! He guessed life had to come up at some point—even for him. He smiled even bigger at the thought, suddenly not minding anymore that he had to go to math class.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

"Chase, I went shopping last night. What do you think of my new dress?" Claire asked Chase.

Chase was too busy daydreaming to hear her. He was trying to remember more about that toy his four-year-old self had been playing with, but nothing more was coming to mind.

" **Chase**!"

Chase looked at Claire, annoyed. " ** _What_**?" he snapped. He was annoyed with the way she had a knack for interrupting his thoughts lately.

Claire looked hurt. "I asked you what you thought of my dress."

Chase glanced at it. "It's nice."

Claire crossed her arms over her chest. "It's nice?"

Chase nodded. "Yes."

"That's all you have to say about it?" Claire was hurt. She had gotten the dress because it had reminded her of Marilyn Monroe's infamous dress. She thought she looked darn good in it. She had thought Chase would be drooling over her. Instead, all she got from him was that it was, 'it's nice'.

"Well, do I remind you of anyone in it?" she asked.

Chase sighed; annoyed that she kept pushing him. He looked at the dress again. "I don't know. Someone who forgot to put clothes on over her slip?" He laughed at his own joke, but halted his laughter when he realized that she wasn't laughing too. "What?"

Claire shot mental daggers out of her eyes at him. "Really, Chase? Really? You had so many options to choose from that would have been acceptable. You could have said, an angel, a bride, or whom it reminds _me_ of—Marilyn Monroe. But, no. You think I look like someone who forgot to put clothes on over a slip!"

"Fine! You look like all those good things you mentioned; not like you're in a slip. I'm sorry, okay?" Chase said, though he didn't sound too sincere.

Claire glared at him, her arms crossed over her chest again. "Too late!"

Chase let out an annoyed cry. "My gosh, Claire! It's just a stupid dress! What is the big deal? For once in your life just please leave me alone to think, all right?"

Claire was hurt. "That's it! I can't do this anymore, Chase. You've been ignoring me for a while now, you're always off into space when we're together and you won't even give me a logical reason why. Now, I go out of my way to dress pretty for you, and you say it's just a stupid dress. I can't anymore with you. I just can't!"

"Yeah, well maybe I can't with you anymore either!" Chase snapped. "Whatever that means."

Claire narrowed her eyes at him. "It means we're through, Chase."

"Fine by me," Chase said with a shrug.

Claire had tears in her eyes. She moved to the opposite end of the classroom and sat down.

Chase sighed. He knew he was being a jerk, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. These flashbacks were bothering him way too much. Anyway, he just didn't feel that spark for Claire anymore that he used to. He didn't want to hurt her feelings, but this was for the best.

The teacher came in then, and he did his best to forget about his flashbacks for the time being. As for Claire, she was already forgotten about.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

 ****Hope had the day off, and so far, she had been enjoying a morning in bed, making love with Aiden.

She now lay next to him, her arms around him as she rested her head on his chest contently. "Are you okay?" she asked. She kissed is chest.

"Hm? Yeah why?" he asked her. He kissed the top of her head.

"You've been quiet…well, except for when we were making love." She grinned at him.

He grinned too, and softly kissed her lips. "I'm just worried about Chase. I'm worried he's going to start remembering more about what happened that night. Hope, if he remembers that he's the one who killed his mother…it will kill _him_! He'll never forgive himself."

Hope kissed his chest again, and gently ran her left index finger up and down it. "Maybe he won't remember. He's obviously been trying to remember, but he hasn't been able to. Heck, for all we know, those memories really are gone forever."

Aiden looked at her, fear in his eyes. "But what if they aren't?" he asked in a whisper.

Hope propped herself up on her right elbow. "Then we will deal with it together. We'll make sure he knows that it was purely an accident, and that he was way too young to be able to hold himself accountable. Of course, you will let him know that you don't hold him responsible, and I will assure him that even I being a cop still consider it just an accident. We'll let him know we don't love him any less because of it."

Aiden ran his fingers through her hair with his right hand. "How did I get so lucky to have such a beautiful, intelligent woman in my life?"

Hope shrugged. "Beats me."

They both laughed.

Hope then lowered her eyes with love for him. "Mm… Show me again how much you love me, Mr. Jennings," she purred.

Aiden moaned, and slowly pinned her down beneath him. "Mm… With pleasure," he murmured.

He kissed her neck, and she moaned as he began to do just as she had requested. She would help Aiden deal with Chase remembering if and when the time came. Until then, she just wanted to enjoy Aiden dealing with _her_.


	32. S2E8

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 2 Episode 8: Independence Day_**

It was the fourth of July and Jonah was excited for the bash that was going on in the Horton Town Square that night. School had ended just five days before, but being out of school and officially a senior was not why he was excited. Well, it wasn't the main reason anyway. The main reason was that Lauren had promised to go with him. He thought back to that miraculous moment when he had finally worked up the courage to talk to her.

 _It was lunchtime, and he saw her heading toward the cafeteria. She had just finished sending a text out to someone._

 _He walked over to her, feeling both courageous and inspired. The night before he had seen the movie_ We Bought a Zoo on DVD _. In the movie, the main character had said that it only took twenty seconds of insane courage and embarrassing bravery for something great to come out of it. Now that he was pretty much alone with Lauren in the halls, he figured it was a sign from God to take this chance and run with it._

 _He tapped her on the shoulder. "Lauren?"_

 _Lauren turned around, and smiled at him when she saw who it was. "Jonah! Hey!" She grinned. "Need another button sewn?" She winked at him._

 _"_ _What?" Jonah looked down at his shirt just in case, and was relieved to see that all his buttons were still in place. He looked back up at Lauren. "Actually, I was wondering if maybe you would like to go with me to the 4_ _th_ _of July bash. It's on the 4_ _th_ _of July." Jonah blushed when he realized what he had just said. "Duh! Of course it's on the 4_ _th_ _of July. When else would a 4_ _th_ _of July bash be?"_

 _Lauren giggled. "You're cute. Sure! I'll go with you."_

 _Jonah's whole face lit up and his heart soared. "Really?"_

 _Lauren nodded. "Sure! I'd love to. But I have something else going on earlier, so I'll just meet you there. How about by the memorial plaque at six?"_

 _Jonah nodded. "I'll be there!"_

 _Lauren smiled, then kissed his right cheek. "I'll see you July 4_ _th_ _at six then." She winked at him, flashing him yet another smile, then detoured into the girl's bathroom._

Jonah touched his cheek as he finished the memory. He wished he could safeguard his cheek so he never had to wash her kiss off. However, he couldn't go to the bash smelling gross. He had to shower. He sighed as he stripped down and stepped into the shower. He hoped that there would be a lot more kisses from her coming his way anyway.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

 ****"This summer is so going to rock! First we get to go to summer camp, then I get to move in with Chad. I mean, who doesn't want to live in a mansion, right? Even if it is just a guest house," Ciara said to Chase as they got ready to head out. She was still living at home until after camp, then she would fully move over to the guest house. She had already spent a couple nights there just to see what it would be like, and he had loved it. Half of her stuff was already there.

Chase nodded. "His guest house is like the size of _this_ house!"

Ciara grinned. "I know, right? If I can't be rich, working for the rich is the next best thing!"

Just then, Hope and Aiden came down the stairs, kissing as they walked.

Ciara made a disgusted face. "You know, you're going to trip and fall right down those stairs if you can't even manage to stop sucking each other's face long enough to get down the stairs."

Hope broke a kiss, and shot Ciara an amused look. "It's good to see you're in a pleasant mood," she said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, Ciara," Aiden apologized. "It's just that seeing your mother in her little red dress does things to me."

Ciara made a gagging motion with her finger. "Please, spare me the details."

"Just be glad you don't know what we were just doing upstairs!" Hope teased.

Chase and Ciara both let out cries of disgust.

Hope and Aiden both laughed. They secretly loved harassing Ciara and Chase, but only because they were at the age where everything annoyed them or grossed them out.

"You're lucky you get to be out of here soon and not have to be around them," Chase grumbled to Ciara.

Ciara smirked. "You should switch your bedroom to the spare bedroom. At least it's down the hall a ways and not right across from theirs."

"Good idea," Chase agreed. His smile then faltered as he suddenly got a memory of his parents fighting.

 _His mother was yelling again about Aiden being dangerous. He told her she was crazy. She locked herself in the spare bedroom with her gun, saying she would shoot him if he tried to get in._

 _"_ _Fine! Lock yourself in the spare bedroom! See if I care! At least I can sleep in my own bed and without you at that!" Aiden had snapped back at her._

 _Chase remembered being so scared he started to cry._

 _Aiden had tried to comfort him but in the end the only thing that had comforted him was a big bowl of ice cream and watching cartoons in Aiden's bed until he fell asleep. He had woken up the next morning, still in his father's bed with Aiden lying next to him, watching him as if to make sure he was alright._

"Chase, Honey, what's wrong? You look troubled," Hope said. She placed a hand over his shoulder.

Chase shook his head. "Nothing. I was just remembering something. It's not important."

Aiden walked over to him, the concern clearly seen on his face. "Son, what did you remember?"

Chase blushed. "I remember eating ice cream in bed next to you, and then sleeping in your bed the whole night. You and mom had had a fight and she locked herself in the spare room with her gun."

"Sheesh! And here I thought _Aiden_ had issues," Ciara quipped.

"Ciara!" Hope snapped.

Ciara held her hands up. "Sorry."

Aiden ignored her. He kept his attention on Chase. "It was just another one of her drunken nights. Don't think too much on it. It was no big deal. Come the morning she was back to her old self— once she got over her hangover that is. We all went to lunch after and had a great time."

"All I remember is waking up to you staring at me. It's funny what was comforting back them would be downright creepy today," Chase joked.

Aiden and Hope laughed nervously.

"No worries there!" Aiden said.

Hope took Aiden's face between her hands and smiled at him. "He's too busy looking at me in the mornings now."

"Waiting to continue where we left off the night before…" Aiden murmured, his eyes lowered with desire for her.

"Okay! This is my cue to leave," Ciara said.

Chase nodded. "Mine too."

"Well at least now we know how to get them both out of the house when we want to be alone," Aiden joked.

Hope playfully swatted his shoulder. "Oh, stop!" She grinned nonetheless.

"See you there!" Chase called out to them as he left.

"Or not, if we're lucky," Ciara quipped before shutting the door behind them.

"You're so bad!" Hope said, her hands around Aiden's waist once their kids left.

"You love it and you know it," Aiden murmured.

Hope moaned. "Mm… I do. I really do."

They kissed.

"I'm just glad he didn't think much of that memory," Aiden said after a moment of kissing.

Hope rested her forehead against his. "Let's just go to the bash and not worry. Can we do that for one night?"

Aiden sighed. "I'll try."

They kissed again, then got their shoes on to head to the bash.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

 ****Lani had everything set. Earlier that morning, she had taken the board off the window out back. Lucky for her, there was no glass. She had climbed into the house, then unlocked the back door. There were no neighbors around. This place was as secluded as it got. She was guessing the previous owners had not wanted to be bothered. That worked out perfectly for her, for she didn't want to be bothered either. She went out the door, then re-boarded up the window. That way, if anyone were to be driving by (not that anyone would have reason to), they wouldn't see that someone had broken in.

She had cemented a metal chair onto the basement floor. She had also installed metal wrist cuffs that were chained to the arms of the chairs. There was even a head restraint attached to the headrest of the chair. There was no way he was getting out of this chair. She had bought it with cash at some seedy sex store about an hour away. It had been a bitch getting it down to the basement by herself, but, being a police officer, she kept herself strong and in shape. Along with that, and her sheer determination, she had managed to get it down there.

She had taken one more look around the basement then headed back home. Now, she was in the car with her father and brother, ready to enjoy the 4th of July bash. She knew she would enjoy what happened _after_ the 4th of July bash much more.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Theo asked Lani.

Lani shook from her thoughts. She smiled at her brother. "Oh, it's nothing. I'm just thinking about how it will be nice to have the day off tomorrow."

"I leave for camp tomorrow. It's too bad we can't hang out," Theo said.

Lani side-hugged him. "We'll hang out when you get back. I promise."

Theo grinned at her. "I'd like that!"

She grinned back at him.

They arrived at the square, and got out.

"I can't wait to have a hot dog! I'm starving!" Theo said.

"You and me both! I want a double decker cheese burger," Abe said.

Theo laughed. "I'd like to see you try to eat one of those!"

They walked ahead while Lani lagged behind. She caught sight of Rafe. Their eyes met. She nodded politely at him, but didn't smile.

He sipped the beer he had in his hand and nodded politely at her. He didn't smile either.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

 ****Claire was looking at her phone in the square as she headed to find Ciara, and she bumped into someone. "Oh! I'm sorry!" She looked up and her face fell when she saw it was Chase.

"I'm sorry," Chase said quietly.

Claire looked away. "Don't be. I was the one who wasn't watching where I was going."

"No," Chase corrected her. "I'm sorry for being such a jerk to you the other day. It was a really pretty dress on you. You know me. I'm a guy. I don't do fashion. That's why I didn't know what to say."

"I looked pretty would have been sufficient," Claire said, looking at him now.

"You look pretty in anything you wear anyway," Chase said sincerely.

Claire blushed. She smiled, and pushed some hair behind her ear. "Thank you."

"For the record, I don't know who Marilyn Monroe is. I had to look her up. Now I see it. The dress was a total Marilyn dress, but honestly, you wore it better," Chase flattered her.

Claire grinned, her blush growing deeper. "I thought everyone knew who Marilyn Monroe was! And thank you, but I know she is a millions times hotter than I am. You don't have to say it just to make me feel better."

Chase shrugged. "I'm not. I honestly think you're prettier."

Claire's expression softened. "You know, maybe I was a little too quick to break things off between us." She stepped a little closer to him.

Chase shook his head. "No, you did the right thing. I was a jerk. Anyway, I don't know about you, but I just haven't been feeling our relationship lately. I've been so distracted by these memories I keep getting of my mom. Claire, it's nothing personal, I promise. I just… I love you so much as a friend, but as a girlfriend…"

"You're just not feeling it," Claire finished for him. She sighed. "To be honest, I'm not really feeling us in that way anymore either. But I do still love and care about you as a friend. What are these memories of? What is bothering you about them? Maybe I can help you."

Chase shook his head. "I love you for offering, but it's kind of personal. I think this is something I have to work out on my own."

"Well, maybe camp will help you relax, and think things through better. After all, I hear the campsite has a beautiful, peaceful lake." Claire gently nudged his shoulder with her right fist.

Chase smiled. "Maybe," he agreed with a nod, though he really didn't think it would help.

Claire kissed his cheek. "I wish you well, Chase. Good luck with those memories."

"Thanks," Chase said, sad their relationship was ending even though he knew it was the right thing to do.

"And don't worry." She took his hands in her own and kissed them. "We'll always be friends."

He smiled; this time sincerely. "Always," he agreed.

Claire, smiling as well, kissed his cheek once more, then let go of his hands and went off to find Ciara.

Chase sighed, then went to find the guys, hoping they could help him take his mind off things for the night.

 ** _~*This love Came back to me.*~_**

"I should have gotten the hot dog instead of the burger. That looks really good," Hope said to Aiden as they sat on a bench together in the middle of the square.

"Here. Have a bite." Aiden held out his hot dog to her and she took a bite.

She licked the mustard and ketchup off her lips. "Mm, that's delicious!"

Aiden pushed some hair off her shoulder and away from her neck. He then kissed her neck before murmuring in her ear, "Why don't we leave early? I have another hot dog for you that you'll enjoy even more than this one."

Hope gasped, and playfully swatted his shoulder. "Behave! We can't leave. I want to watch the fireworks."

"Baby, I promise you, if we go home now, I'll see to it that there's fireworks," Aiden teased.

Hope smirked at him. "Down, boy." She continued to eye up his hot dog which he had only taken one bite out of.

He handed it to her. "We'll trade."

She shook her head. "No. I can't take that away from you. I should have ordered one myself."

He shook his head in return. "Baby, I don't mind eating a hamburger instead. Here." He gave her the hot dog. "I can't enjoy my meal knowing you're not happy with yours."

Hope looked at him, then took the hot dog, and gave him her burger. She kissed him softly on the lips. "I love you."

His eyes lowered with love for her. "And I love you, my love."

They kissed again, then went back to eating their food.

"Mm!" Hope said as she took another bite of her hot dog.

Aiden smiled at her. He admired her beauty as he took a bite of his burger.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

 ****Jonah's eyes lit up as Lauren headed over to him. She had an ice cream cone in each hand.

"Hi Jonah!" She said with a cheery smile. "Chocolate or strawberry? I figured we'd have ice creams and sit on the bench together while we watch the fireworks."

Jonah smiled big. "I'm good with either. Whatever you don't want, I'll take."

Lauren handed him the chocolate. "I'll let you have the chocolate."

"Thank you! How much do I owe you?" Jonah asked reaching into his pocket with his free hand.

"Not a thing! I bought it for you." Lauren sat down on the bench and pat the spot beside her. "Come sit!"

Jonah did as told. "Thank you for the ice cream."

"You're very welcome!" She took a lick of her cone. "So, I'm going to be a counselor at Camp Hakui. I wanted to be one at Wanataga with you, but sadly they're all booked up."

Jonah's face lit up. "Really?"

Lauren nodded. "Mhm!"

"Mrs. Mathis said our camps will be doing things together, so at least we can still see each other," Jonah said. He was almost too excited to eat! _Almost_. He took a big lick of his ice cream.

"Exactly! I'm really looking forward to hanging out with you these next two weeks, Jonah!" Lauren said sweetly to him.

Jonah smiled at her. "I'm really looking forward to hanging out with you too, Lauren."

She grinned at him, then kissed his cheek."

The fireworks were about to start then, but Jonah didn't need fireworks in the sky. They were already in his brain.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

 ****The fireworks were starting. Lani was furious! Nicole had come over to Rafe and they had eaten cheese burgers together. Nicole hadn't left his side since! Now they were watching the fireworks together. There was no way in heck that Lani was going to be able to get to him now. Her plan would have to wait until the next day.

She sighed. The more she watched him all chummy with Nicole, the angrier she became. Why was it that he loved hanging out with any woman that crossed his path except for her? She was an attractive young woman, and she was damn good in bed if she did say so herself! Rafe would be _lucky_ to have her. But, no. He preferred women like Hope and Nicole. Well, he was going to pay for not liking her. He was going to pay big time. She would be a patient woman. She had waited this long, so what was one more night? Tomorrow she would strike, and like a cobra, she would strike hard and fast. Rafe wouldn't even know what hit him.

 ** _~*This love came back to me*~_**

 ****The fireworks ended, and Hope tugged at Aiden's sleeve.

He looked at her. "What is it, Baby?"

He wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his chest. "I want another hot dog."

Aiden looked at the vender. "All right. It looks like they're still serving. I'll go get you one."

He started to get up to walk over to the vender, but Hope quickly stood up and grabbed his hand.

She pulled him close. "Not that kind," she purred into his ear.

"Oh," Aiden said in realization. "Oh!" he then said a little more enthusiastically when it really sunk in what kind of hot dog she had meant. "By all means, let's go home then." He pulled her close by the waist.

Their eyes locked, both pairs filled with desire for the other.

Hope nodded, then kissed him passionately.

He moaned, and hungrily kissed her back.

She then led him by the hand to the car.

He opened the car door for her and let her in. Then, he shut the door and headed to the driver's side. He had been thinking as he had watched her beautiful face light up during the fireworks. She had looked so beautiful in the light of the moon, stars, and fireworks.

He got into the car and turned he engine on. He paused to look at her again.

Hope noticed him staring and smiled. She pushed some hair behind her ear. "What?" she asked with a blush and a slight laugh. "Do I have ketchup or mustard on my face?"

He shook his head. "No. I'm just thinking of how you're more beautiful than a thousand fireworks."

She blushed. "You always were such a charmer," she said.

He shrugged. "I only speak the truth."

"Mm, then take me home, Mr. Jennings, so I can show you my appreciation," she purred, her hand moving over to gently caress him over his pants.

He bit his bottom lip and moaned. She was wild and crazy, and he loved every moment of being with her. He started the engine, and as he side glanced at Hope he drove. As he saw her smiling at him with that beautiful smile of hers that always took his breath away, he knew what he was going to do. One day in the extremely near future, he was going to ask her to marry him again.


	33. S2E9

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 2 Episode 9: Danger Zone_**

"I can't believe the other councilors are those jerks!" Theo said as they rode on the plane to the camps.

"At least Lauren's not a jerk. I can't believe she's going to be stuck having to work with them!" Jonah said.

They were all appalled when they got to the airport and realized that the counselors for Camp Hakui were none other than Becca, AJ, Jake, Jason, Lauren, and Rochelle. They were unsure of who Rochelle was, but judging by her short, spiky purple hair, her red lace up corset, short, ripped black denim shorts over ripped fishnets, and black platform boots that went to her knees, she didn't exactly look like someone they wanted to counsel with either.

"That Rochelle looks like a freaking raccoon with all that black eye makeup," Joey quipped.

"Her lips looks like they're covered in blood. I bet she's a vampire," Theo joked.

Claire rolled her eyes. "It's not nice to stereotype. For all we know, she could be very nice."

"And don't be ridiculous. Vampires don't exist!" Ciara said with an eye roll.

Theo looked at her. "Oh, they're real all right. Maybe not to the extent of how they are portrayed in movies and TV, but they exist."

Lauren came over then and stood by Jonah's aisle seat. She rolled her eyes. "Those guys are such jerks! They keep bad mouthing you guys. I needed a break from them."

"How is Rochelle? Is she weird?" Chase asked.

Lauren shrugged. "She doesn't say much. She's been doing nothing but reading her _Dracula_ book so far."

Theo's eyes lit up. "See?!" he said to his friends.

Ciara rolled her eyes, but the guys snickered. Claire just smiled.

"Don't worry. I stick up for you guys. Of course those idiots won't hear it." Lauren rolled her eyes.

"Don't even worry about it! Arguing with idiots is just waste of time," Ciara said.

"You're probably right. Well, I have to go to the bathroom. We'll be landing soon so I better get back in my seat after that." Lauren sighed. "This is going to be a long two weeks." She rolled her eyes again, then headed to the bathroom.

"Ciara smiled at Jonah, who was sitting across from her. "Looks like you finally found a nice girl, Jonah!"

Jonah grinned brightly. "I sure have." He could not believe his good luck!

He sighed contently, and ignored the fact that AJ had stood up in his seat and had turned to face him as he pushed up the tip of his nose and made snorting sounds at him.

Jonah was so happy to have Lauren, he wasn't even going to let AJ or his thug friends bother him with their immature, thuggish behavior anymore. At least, he'd try not to.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

Lani dialed Rafe's number. She didn't want to wait a moment more to put her plan into action. Like she did, Rafe also had the day off. She knew he would be available.

"Hello?" Rafe picked up on the third ring.

Lani smiled even though he couldn't see her smile. "Rafe! Hey. I was calling to see if you wanted to have dinner over at my place tonight, at around, say…six?"

Rafe paused for a moment. "Lani, we've already discussed this. I'm not ready to get into another relationship. I'm sorry."

 _You didn't seem to have any problem with it when you were hanging out with Nicole last night!_ Instead of screaming at Rafe what she was screaming in her head, she stayed calm. "No! I know that. You know, I think sleeping with you got it out of my system. I really do. I just want to get together as friends. I also want to apologize to you for throwing myself at you when we went to the music festival. I'm so embarrassed."

"Really, Lani, I'm the one who should be embarrassed. I had way too much to drink. I never should have slept with you and led you on like that," Rafe apologized.

"Don't even worry about it. We both made a mistake. Why don't we get together tonight to just try to get back to things not being so awkward. We're friends, right?" Lani asked.

"I suppose." Rafe cleared his throat. "But, really, Lani. We should go back to keeping it professional. I don't think dinner is a good idea."

 **** _You never kept it professional with Hope!_ Lani dug her nails into her palm. "Come on. One dinner can't hurt. Please? I'm going to feel like you totally hate me if you don't let me cook dinner for you as a friend. I went all out and got prime rib!"

Rafe sighed. "Well, I do love prime rib."

 _I know. I overheard Hope mentioning that one day a while back._ "See? How can you pass that up? I even made blueberry cobbler for dessert."

"You had me at prime rib. I'll be there," Rafe agreed.

Lani grinned big. "Excellent!

"And Lani?"

"Yes?"

"I don't hate you. I could never hate you."

Lani rolled her eyes. _Too little too late, Rafael!_ "Good to know. See you tonight at six!"

"See you tonight at six," Rafe agreed.

Lani clicked the off button and set the phone down. "Too bad for you, you won't be making it past the blueberry cobbler, Rafe." She smirked, then left to go grocery shop.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

 ****Hope had put in a good word for Aiden at the police station and his application had been accepted. Now it was time for him to prepare for his entrance examination.

He took practice tests on line and studied the answers he got wrong. Most of it came easily to him, being a lawyer. He knew this part of the processes was going to be a piece of cake. It was the physical he was worried about, but he would worry about that when the time came.

Hope massaged his shoulders from behind. "Why don't you take a break? We can go out and do something fun."

He closed his laptop. He was tired of studying and pretty much felt prepared anyway. His test wasn't until the next day at noon, so he still had plenty of time to study.

He turned to face Hope, and gently pulled her down onto his lap. "I can think of something fun we can do right here at home," he murmured his lips brushing against her neck.

Hope smiled, her fingers tangling in his hair. "I'm sure you can."

He kissed the side of her neck.

She closed her eyes, tempted to give into him. However, her stomach growled just then and reminded her of how hungry she was. "We'll have plenty of time for that later with the kids away at camp. Right now, I want to eat. After that, I want to figure out something fun for us to do. We don't do anything spontaneous any more. All we do is go out to eat then come back and make love."

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "And what's wrong with that?"

Hope smiled at him, as she stroked her hair. "Nothing. I just want to explore other ways to have fun."

"We can do that too," Aiden teased, wriggling his eyebrows at her.

Hope rolled her eyes and groaned, feigning annoyance. "Is that the only thing you ever think about?"

"When it comes to you, yes!" Aiden said simply.

"Well, not today. At least…not right now." Hope got up off his lap, then took his hands and helped him up. "I want to go eat, and then I want to go dancing in the park! They have a live jazz band and a dance floor all this month for their summer festivities. It lasts until nine at night."

Aiden kissed her. "Well dancing _is_ kind of our thing. How about this? We go get a quick lunch, then come home and make love until we're too tired to make love any more. Then we'll take a nap together. When we wake up, I'll do a bit more studying, then we can get all decked out, eat dinner outside at the square, and then go dancing. It runs until nine, tonight, you said. Right?"

"It will be a different jazz band tonight than there is now, but I suppose it doesn't matter which one as long as we get to dance!" Hope said.

"And make love?" Aiden asked as he began to place gentle kisses all up the side of her neck, then behind her ear.

Hope closed her eyes, her breath getting slightly heavy as it always did whenever he kissed her neck and that spot behind her ear. He always knew the places on her body to kiss that drove her insane with desire for him. "And make love," she said quietly. She then opened her eyes and pulled his body by the waist until his body was pressed directly against hers. "Wherever we eat, let's make it quick so we can get to making that love…" he murmured in his ear. She gently nibbled at his earlobe and ran her fingers through his hair, knowing that that was one of the way's _he_ got turned on.

He moaned. "I agree—let's make this quick."

"But not the lovemaking. I wanna take that nice and slow…" she murmured in his ear.

He moaned again, and practically dragged her out of the house.

Hope didn't mind. After all, she needed it as much as he did now.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

 ****The teens arrived at the airport and grabbed their suitcases.

Jonah was looking for his bag when suddenly he felt a wave of pain on his foot. He cried out and looked to see a big suitcase on his right foot.

AJ smiled at him. "Oops! Sorry. It's hard trying to get it off the conveyor belt. It slipped." He picked it up off Jonah's foot.

"You did that on purpose!" Ciara snapped.

AJ sneered at her. "Prove it!" He laughed, then rolled the suitcase away.

"Are you all right?" Ciara asked Jonah. "He didn't break your foot, did he?"

Jonah shook his head. "No. I'm fine. The pain faded already." The truth was, his foot still hurt—a _lot_. But he didn't want to look weak in front of his friends, nor did he want to give AJ and his pals the satisfaction. Jonah knew that Joey and Theo were tough. If it had happened to them, they probably wouldn't be crying like a baby like he was doing inside.

Jonah wriggled his foot. He could move it so it wasn't broken. Still… He hoped it would stop throbbing soon. He bet it was swollen.

Once they all had their bags, they headed to the shuttle to go to camp. Jonah was just glad that they at least didn't have to share a camp. He didn't think he'd make it two weeks if he had to.

 ** _~*This love came back to me*~_**

"I'm so glad you could make it," Lani said. She had dressed in tight black jeans, black ankle boots, and a tight lacey red top with a modest neckline. She wanted to come off as sexy but subtly sexy so as not to scare Rafe off, but still give him one last chance to become more than friends.

Rafe grinned. "How could I say no to prime rib?"

Lani smirked. "Come in." _Choosing food over me. You'll be sorry._ She shut the door behind him, then led him into the dining room where she had the table all set.

"Mm… This all looks delicious! I was going to bring some wine, but I wasn't sure if you already had some or not," he said as he sat down at the table.

"I figured maybe drinking alcohol wasn't such a good thing after what happened the last time we were together," Lani said.

Rafe nodded. "Good point!"

"Is Sprite okay?" Lani asked.

Rafe shrugged. "Sounds good to me!"

Lani went into the kitchen and got two glasses. She decided to let Rafe have one more chance to come to his senses. She poured them each a glass without slipping him the roofies just yet.

She headed back to the dining room and handed him his drink before sitting down with hers.

He took a sip. "Thank you."

"Sure thing!" she said before digging into her food.

Rafe dug into his food as well.

"So, Rafe, I'm totally cool with being just friends, but would I ever be someone you'd want to date? You know, maybe once you're fully over the loss of Hope?" Lani asked casually.

Rafe looked at her, his fork paused in mid-air. "Lani, I thought we've already been through this."

Lani shrugged. "I'm not asking to date you now. I myself don't even think that's a good idea. You're clearly not ready for a relationship. I'm just asking about down the road. Heck, say six months from now even."

Rafe sighed. "Lani, the truth is, yes, you're a very attractive woman, but you're just not my type. I enjoy our partnership and being friends with you, but that's as far as it goes, and as far as it will ever go."

 _You'll be sorry you said that, Rafe._ Lani shrugged. "That's cool. No biggie. Thanks for being honest." She smiled. "There are plenty of other hot fish in the sea. I'm sure I'll find the perfect guy one day."

Rafe nodded. "That's the spirit!" He took another bite of his prime rib. "Mm… This is really good."

"Would you like more?" Lani asked.

Rafe shook his head. "Na. I'm good, thanks. I gotta save room for that blueberry cobbler you promised me!" He winked at her.

Lani smiled. "Of course! At least let me refill your soda."

"Thank you!" Rafe said, nudging his glass to her.

"I'll be right back." Lani grabbed both their glasses, then headed into the kitchen. She refilled hers, then refilled his. She took the two roofies from her pocket, and placed them in Rafe's drink. She stirred them around until they dissolved. She then headed back out to the dining table.

She handed Rafe his drink.

"Thank you!" he said, immediately bringing it to his lips.

She watched as he took a couple big gulps. _That's it. Drink it all down Rafe…_

They made small talk as they finished their dinner.

"I'm going to clear these up and go get that cobbler!" she said, clearing their plates.

"Would you like any help?" he asked her.

"No, I can get it! You're my guest, and I don't make company work. I'll be right out with that cobbler." Lani headed into the kitchen and put the dishes in the sink. She then dished out the cobbler on new plates. The drug took about twenty minutes to take effect. They would have their cobbler and then he should be starting to feel the effects.

She smiled to herself as she brought out their cobblers. Just twenty minutes and her revenge could begin…

 ** _*This love came back to me.*_**

"All right. Before the Camp Hakui campers head on over to their camp, our cook has prepared a special dinner for you councilors to welcome you to the camps!" Gracie Melbourne, the councilor in charge of both camps said to them once they had arrived at camp and been shown around to Camp Wanataga.

Joey, Chase, Theo, and Jonah had their own cabin, and Claire and Ciara had their own cabin. The other counselors had their stuff loaded into the canoes that they would be taking to get to their camp. It was just a short trip across the lake to Camp Hakui.

They all headed into the camp's dining cabin and took their seats.

So far only one long table was set up, so both camps had to sit together.

Their meals were on silver trays with a top over each tray.

The councilors all took the tops off the trays in front of their seat.

"I thought we were getting a special meal. This just jot hot dogs and macaroni and cheese!" Theo griped.

"I love hot dogs and macaroni and cheese!" Jonah said, already digging into his.

"Of course you love it! You're a fat slob who loves anything edible!" Jake snapped.

AJ and Jason laughed, and high-fived Jake.

Becca smirked. "Well, I'm not eating mine. They are filled with God knows what disgusting things." She gave her hot dog to Jonah. "You're already completely disgusting inside and out so it shouldn't bother you any."

Jonah was hurt, but he took her hot dog anyway. He was extra hungry after all that traveling.

"Don't let them get to you," Lauren whispered to him from her spot beside him. "They're just trying to get you going. I happened to love hot dogs and people who don't think they're too good to eat hot dogs."

Jonah smiled at her, feeling a little better.

"I have to switch seats. I can't sit here looking at you while I'm trying to eat," AJ said to Jonah. He had been sitting right across from Jonah. He moved to the other side of Becca. There was an empty seat in front of him. "Much better!" he said. "Looking at that ugly, fat, loser makes me want to vomit."

Becca laughed.

Jonah felt his heart sink again. He suddenly wasn't hungry anymore, but he choked down his hot dogs and mac and cheese anyway.

~*This love came back to me.*~

Aiden stroked Hope's hair as they danced together under the moonlight and stars in the park. "You are the most beautiful woman in the world. I didn't think it was possible for you to get any more beautiful but you somehow manage it time after time."

Hope stroked his hair as well. She brushed her lips against his left ear. "You always know just what to say to make me feel beautiful and loved."

"That's because you're both beautiful and loved," he murmured burying his nose in her hair. Her hair always smelled like perfume. He didn't know if it was the scent of her expensive shampoo and conditioner, or if she put perfume in her hair. Whatever it was, he loved it.

She smiled at him. "As are you, Mr. Jennings. Well, handsome and loved that is." She winked at him.

He twirled her around to the music.

"It's such a beautiful night," she said. "I love these summer nights."

"Me too—especially when I get to spend them with you," he said.

Hope smiled, and gently stroked his cheek with her palm. "Likewise, Mr. Jennings."

Suddenly, their song began to play. It was the song they had danced the waltz to the night they had fallen in love.

Hope looked at Aiden. "Did you have something to do with this?"

Aiden grinned. "I might have gone over to the band when you were in the bathroom and asked them to play it when you came back out."

Hope kissed him, then stroked some hair out of his eyes. "I love you more with every day that passes."

Aiden kissed her softly on the lips. "Baby, I can assure you, I feel the same way about you." They kissed some more.

Aiden broke the kiss. "I know we've only been back together for a little over three months, but I already feel we're back to where we were before I went insane."

Hope nodded. "I think so too," she said.

Aiden pushed some of her hair behind her right ear. "Do you feel safe with me now, Hope? Do you feel like we can finally move past all the horrible things that kept us apart? All the horrible thing that happened because of me?"

Hope gently placed a hand over Aiden's left cheek, and looked deeply into his eyes. "If I didn't, I wouldn't have asked you to move in with me, and I wouldn't be here with you tonight." She then brushed her lips against his ear. "And we certainly wouldn't have been making love like we did after lunch. My goodness, you wore me out!" She grinned at him.

He grinned at her too.

She then gently took is face between her hands, and rested her forehead against his. "I love you, Mr. Jennings. As far as I'm concerned, what happened that tore us apart for a while, never happened. I'm not going to let what Andre and Stefano did to you, ruin what we had."

Aiden looked her in the eyes, his eyes and heart filled with so much love for her he thought he would burst. "I love you _so_ much, Hope."

Hope's eyes lowered with love for him, and they kissed.

Aiden knew then that he was going to propose to her sooner rather than later—much sooner.

Hope broke a kiss, and took his hands in hers as their song ended. "Let's go home," she said.

He nodded. "That's exactly what I was thinking!"

They then headed back home, both more in love with the other than ever before.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

 ****The teens lay in their beds. AJ and his gang of thugs had gone across the lake to their own camp.

"Jonah, are you all right? Those jerks were pretty mean to you at dinner," Theo asked from the bed across the room from Jonah's bed.

"I'm fine. It's nothing I'm not used to by now," Jonah said. He wiped away the tears that were filling his eyes. He was grateful for the cloak of darkness so that no one could see his tears. He hated being called fat and unattractive. He already felt fat and unattractive. He didn't need jerks like AJ confirming it. Also, it made him embarrassed in front of Lauren. What if she one day woke up and realized she was too good for him? Not that they were officially dating or anything, but still…

"Don't even worry about those jackasses! They are so not worth our time! I only wish we had some hot councilors from the other camp instead of those assholes," Joey said from his bunk next to Theo's. "This is going to be a long two weeks! I'm just glad they'll be on the other side of the lake for the most part. At least Lauren isn't like that. She really seems sweet on you Jonah!"

Jonah smiled. "You really think so?"

"Dude, totally! I've seen the way she looks at you," Joey replied.

"Yeah," Theo chimed in. "She sticks up for you. That's gotta say something, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Jonah agreed. He suddenly felt a little better.

"Chase, are you asleep, Dude?" Joey asked.

Chase didn't reply.

Jonah tried to look over at Chase who was in the bed next to his bed, but he couldn't see in the darkness. "He must be sleeping."

Theo yawned. "That's what I want to be. I'm exhausted from all the traveling. "Goodnight, Guys. See you in the morning."

"Goodnight," Jonah and Joey both echoed.

Meanwhile, Chase was tossing and turning as he dreamed about his mother.

 _"_ _Mom! You're alive again!" Chase said. He ran to hug her, but she quickly stepped back._

 _"_ _Mom, what's wrong?" he asked._

 _"_ _You hurt me," she said, pointing at him._

 _Chase couldn't tell if his mother looked angry or sad. "I hurt you? How?"_

 _"_ _You should know. How could you not remember?" Meredith asked. She definitely looked angry now._

 _"_ _Mom, I'm sorry, but I honestly don't know! What did I do? How did I hurt you?" Chase asked. He was starting to panic. Hurt his mother? What was she talking about?"_

 _Meredith placed her hand over her heart. "You hurt me here." She went from angry to sad._

 _"_ _Mom, I don't know what you mean! I didn't even know you were alive until now," Chase said, tears in his eyes now._

 _Meredith stared him in the eyes. "I didn't say anything about now." She then disappeared._

 _"_ _Mom! Don't go!" Chase cried out._

He jerked awake. He was sweating, and breathing heavily. His mouth was dry.

He headed into their cabin's bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face. He then cupped his hands, and drank water from them before turning the spicket off and getting back in bed.

He closed his eyes and tried to calm his breathing. "It was just a dream," he whispered to himself. "Just a dream." He soon fell back to sleep, no more dreams invading his sleep.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

 ****Rafe was starting to drift. Lani knew the time to strike was now while he could still get into her car.

"Rafe, are you okay? You look a little peeked," Lani asked with fake concern.

"I'm suddenly not feeling so well. I feel so tired," Rafe said.

"Why don't I drop you home? You look really out of it. I don't think you should be driving," Lani said to him.

Rafe started to stand up. "I'll be fine. I just…" He started to stumble.

Lani quickly got out of her chair and helped him stay upright. "Oh, no you're not! Come on, Rafe. As a cop, you should know better than to even attempt to drive when you're in a state like this."

"I don't know what happened. I was fine, and then all of the sudden I feel like crap!" Rafe said.

"Let's get you back home. You can come pick up your car tomorrow. I'll pick you up and bring you back here in the morning."

"That might be a good idea," Rafe said. "I appreciate it. Thank you. I'm just so tried…"

"I know. Let's go." Lani led him over to the front door, and opened it.

She then led him over to her car, and opened the door to the back seat. "I'll let you sleep on the backseat on the way there."

With Lani's help, Rafe climbed into the backseat and laid down. "Thank you."

"Oh, Rafe? Did you tell anyone you were going to dinner at my place tonight?" she asked.

"No. Why?" Rafe asked.

"Just curious!" Lani shut the door, smiling to herself. _Excellent._

She then quickly ran back to the house and locked up. Then, she got in the car and headed out to the "House of Torture," as she liked to think of it.

She looked over her shoulder toward the back seat as she pulled out of the driveway. "Rafe? Are you awake?"

Rafe didn't say a word. He was out cold.

She smirked, and put her eyes back on the road. "So far, so good!" she said to herself.


	34. S2E10

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 2 Episode 10: No Mercy_**

It was the next day and Aiden had taken his entrance exam. He felt really good about it and was sure that the next step would be his physical, and then entering the police academy. He was so excited. The sooner he became a cop, the sooner he could prove to Hope that he had what it took to be a police officer, and therefore could be just as good as Rafe or even Bo. He could prove that he too was very capable of protecting Hope.

Hope wrapped her arms around him from behind once he had gotten out of the room he took the exam in. She kissed his cheek. "Wanna go to lunch? I had Roman put a rush on the results. He'll call when he knows if you passed or not."

"How long do we have before your lunchbreak is over?" he asked her.

"I have an hour, so we have plenty of time to eat," she said.

He turned around to face her and pulled her closer to him. "Or do other activities…" he murmured in her ear.

She blushed. "Nice try. Let's go eat! I'm starved."

"You can't blame a guy for trying," he said, taking her hand in his and leading her out of the station.

She smiled. "No, I can't." She quickly kissed his cheek, and together they headed out to lunch.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

Rafe had a horrible headache when he woke up. He slowly opened his eyes. He was in a very dimly-lit room. He couldn't recognize where he was. He tried to put a hand to his throbbing head, but to his alarm, he realized he couldn't move his hands…or his head for that matter. He tried moving his legs. They were stuck in place too. "What the hell?"

Suddenly Lani appeared before him, a smirk on her face. "You're finally up! You were out for fifteen hours. I was starting to worry. Only because there'd be no fun to be had if you were dead."

Rafe looked at her in confusion, not really taking in what she had just said to him. "Lani? Where am I? What happened? How did I get here?"

Lani raised an eyebrow. "You don't remember?"

Rafe shook his head. "The last thing I remember was getting a dinner invite from you."

Lani nodded. "You came to my house, and we had a lovely dinner and dessert together."

"Then what happened? How did I get here? What happened to me? Who did this to me?" Rafe asked.

"Wow. I guess it's true. Roofies really _do_ wipe out memories! Though, in all fairness, you _were_ out of it most the time, so obviously you wouldn't remember getting here anyway," Lani said as she began to circle him.

"I don't understand. "I was roofied? By whom? When?" Rafe asked.

Lani walked over to a nearby table she had set up, and picked up a bull whip. She ran it slowly along the palm of her hand. "Come on, Rafe. Put two and two together! You're smarter than this! You know darn well how you got roofied. Surely those pills can't still be muddling your mind."

Rafe watched her, starting to get worried as it finally dawned on him. "It was you."

Lani grinned. "Ding, ding, ding! You got it!"

"Why?" Rafe asked. "I thought we were friends."

"Why?" Lani asked in a mocking way. "Why do you think? Time and time again I tried to get you to fall for me, but you kept making up excuses. 'I don't want to be unprofessional by dating a coworker,' you said. Then you go and date Hope Brady, your _partner_! So much for keeping it professional! Then, you keep saying you'll give us a try, and you even slept with me, then you reneged and barely even wanted to be friends anymore."

"I apologized for that," Rafe said with a wince. "I had too much to drink. I'm sorry."

Lani shrugged. "Even so, you didn't even want to be friends anymore. The only reason you even agreed to cone to dinner with me was because you liked what I was serving."

"That's not true, Lani. I care about you. You know that," Rafe said gently.

Lani shook her head. "Bull crap! I asked you at dinner if you'd date me after a few months to heal and you still said no. Oh, you have no problem seeing Nicole though!"

"What? I'm not seeing Nicole. Where on earth did you get that from?" Rafe asked; confused.

Lani narrowed her eyes at him. "I saw you at the 4th of July barbeque bash. You two were together the whole time!"

"We both had come alone, so we decided to hang out together. We're just old friends and nothing more," Rafe replied.

"I don't believe you. Anyway, the truth remains that even though I am a beautiful young woman who would have fulfilled your every desire, you still reject me. I don't deserve that." Lani's eyes grew dark, and she narrowed them at Rafe again. "Now, you're going to have to pay for it."

Rafe was scared now. He had never seen her act or look that way before. "Lani, just let me go. You don't want to do this. Trust me. This is kidnapping! Let me go now, and we'll forget this ever happened."

Lani laughed. "Sorry, Rafe, but I've gone to way too much trouble to stop now. You rejected me, and now you have to pay the price."

It happened so fast, Rafe hadn't seen it coming. She stormed over to him and wacked him hard across the face with the bull whip.

Rafe cried out in pain. He instinctively wanted to put his hands to his face, but he couldn't. The metal restraints were digging into his wrists. "Let me out of here!"

Lani snarled at him. "Fat chance! We could have been something special together, Rafe, but you screwed that all up. I'm going to leave you hear alone to think about things while I go run an errand. I'll be back later."

She then took off up the basement stairs, ignoring his screams for her to come back and let him go.

She locked the door tightly behind her, then left the house out the back way.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

"This is the best grilled cheese sandwich I've ever had. I'm loving camp!" Jonah said. He was in a little better spirits today—mainly because AJ and his group of thugs were all the way on the other side of the lake. Jonah and his friends had spent the morning cleaning out the bunk rooms, and now they got to take a break and have lunch. Afterwards, they were supposed to clean out the dining hall, and then set up all the recreational activities and test them out to make sure they were still in good enough shape for the campers.

"They _are_ good!" Theo agreed. He nodded at Chase. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Not really. I don't really feel good today." Chase looked at all his friends. "Do you guys mind if I don't help clean the kitchen? I just want to rest."

"What's wrong? Is it the heat?" Claire asked with concern. "You need to stay hydrated. You haven't been drinking anything."

Chase shook his head. "I just feel off. I don't know. I just need some time to myself." He drank down his soda just to appease her.

However, Ciara shook her head. "Oh, no! You do this at home too. We'll you're not doing it here! There's too much work to be done for you to fake sick and try to get out of every chore. The kitchen here is big and we need all the help we can get. You're helping!"

Chase rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mother."

Ciara shot him a nasty look, but let the subject drop.

Chase sighed. He could tell Ciara though he was faking. He guessed he didn't blame her. She was right; he did fake sick to get out of chores at home. But this time he wasn't faking. Last night's dream about his mother kept haunting him. What had she meant by he had hurt her?

They all finished their lunch and ditched their disposable plates, then headed into the kitchen to clean it.

"Joey and Theo, I think you two can manage cleaning off all the counters. Jonah, help Chase mop the floors. Claire and I will clean the oven and microwave. They both look horrid," Ciara ordered.

"Who put _you_ in charge?" Joey grumbled.

"Me!" Ciara snapped at him, shooting him a look to kill.

"I was just asking," Joey grumbled.

They then all got to work.

Jonah brought out the buckets and mops, and Chase filled the buckets with water and dish soap.

"You take this end, and I'll take that end," Jonah said, pointing to the opposite side of the kitchen. "We'll meet in the middle."

Chase nodded absentmindedly as he took out the mop and began to mop. As he mopped, another memory of his mother came to him.

 _Aiden was working. It was just Chase and his mommy. Meredith was cleaning the house. He watched as she moved the mop back and forth across the kitchen floor._

 _Chase crawled into the kitchen and started grabbing at the mop. He giggled when he felt the strings of mop between his fingers. They felt weird._

 _"_ _Chase, stop that!" Meredith chastised. "This isn't a toy! It's got all kinds of germs on it. Go play with your toys in the living room."_

 _Chase, being a typical little boy, ignored her, and crawled after the mop again._

 _"_ _Chase! Mommy said no! Stop playing with the mop! Go play in the living room. The mop is dirty. Yucky!" she said to him in a language she hoped he understood._

 _Chase gave up on the mop, but as he was crawling toward the kitchen entranceway (he could walk, but he still liked to crawl from time to time), he spotted the mop bucket filled with water. He sat up on his knees and splashed his little hands into the water. He giggled as the water flew all over._

 _"_ _Chase!" Meredith snapped. "Stop that!"_

 _Of course that only made playing with the water even more appealing to Chase. He grabbed the sides of the bucket, and accidentally caused the bucket to fall over, pouring water all over the kitchen floor._

 _"_ _Chase! Bad boy! That is a very bad boy! Look at what you've done!" Meredith yelled. She picked Chase (who now had wet jeans) up and gently shook him. "I told you not to do that, but did you listen? No!"_

 _Chase had never seen his mother so angry—at least not with him. He began to sob uncontrollably._

 _Meredith's expression softened, then she began to cry to. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you. Mommy's so sorry." She held him close to her body and began to gently rock him back and forth until his crying ceased._

 _She then held him at arm's-length, a smile on her face. "You know what? I don't really want to clean the kitchen anyway. What do you say we go get some French fries and milk shakes?"_

 _Chase looked up at her with a sniffle. "Chocolate?"_

 _"_ _Chocolate it is!" she said._

 _He smiled. "Okay."_

 _"_ _Let's go get you changed first. You don't want to go to Mc. Donald's all wet now, do you?" Meredith asked._

 _Chase shook his head._

 _"_ _Afterwards, if you're a good boy, we can go to the toy store and you can pick out something," she said to him._

 _Chase, feeling much better, wrapped his little arms around his mother's neck and kissed her cheek. "I love you, Mommy."_

 _"_ _Mm… I love you too, my sweet little boy!" She kissed his cheek with a loud_ Muah _, causing him to giggle._

 _She then took him upstairs to get him into some dry clothes._

"Chase, wake up! You've been mopping the same spot of the floor for five whole minutes! Jonah already has half of his section done!" Ciara snapped.

"Whatever," Chase grumbled. He slammed his mop back into the bucket and took off. He didn't have time for Ciara's bossiness. He wasn't in the mood.

"Chase! Come back here! Where are you going?" she called out to him.

He ignored her, and kept on walking. He slammed the dining hall screen door behind him, and didn't look back as he headed for a quiet hike down the hiking trail where he could try to get some thinking done in peace without big-mouthed Ciara nagging him along the way.

 ** _~*This love came back to me*~_**

Hope and Aiden were eating when Aiden got the text from Roman. He had passed his entrance exam and was to schedule a physical at the doctors. Then, the following week, he could begin the police academy training with the other new rookies.

"I am so proud of you! I have to admit, I was a little skeptical when you first mentioned joining the police force, but now I'm starting to see that you may just have what it takes!" Hope said to Aiden as they shared a hot fudge sundae for desert.

"I'm going to prove to you that I have what it takes without a doubt," Aiden told her. "Then you won't have to be skeptical any longer."

Hope fed him a spoonful from across the table. "I know you can do anything you put your mind to. That is one thing both police officers and lawyers have in common—we're both determined to get what we want."

Aiden smiled at her. "Amen to that!" He nodded his head in agreement, and fed her a bite.

When they were done with their ice cream, they paid the tip and bill, then headed out.

"I promised Dad and Julie I'd come visit them today. Want to come with me after work?" Hope asked, gently squeezing Aiden's hand.

Aiden kissed her cheek. "I'd love to, but I'm not sure Doug or Julie would be quite keen on seeing me."

"What? Of course they would love to see you! I explained to them why you did what you did. They weren't happy with it, but they understood why. They also know you're not that person anymore. Trust me, they aren't going to be rude to you. If they are, then they're going to have to deal with me, and trust me, neither of them likes seeing my bad side." She kissed Aiden's hand, and smiled up at him, nothing but love in her eyes for him. "Don't forget I'm a daddy's girl. I always get what I want. If I want him to accept you he will; as will Julie."

Aiden let go of her hand and faced her toward him. He gently took her face between his hands. "You know I can never say no to you." He softly kissed her.

Hope closed her eyes and kissed him back, and for the next minute, they continued to kiss.

Hope eventually broke the kiss, and rested her forehead against Aiden's. "I better get back to work. I'll see you tonight," she said quietly.

They kissed once more.

"See you then," Aiden agreed.

They smiled at each other, and Hope gently wiped the corner of his mouth with her thumb before kissing him once more. Then, she took off back to work.

Aiden sighed happily as he watched her leave. Then, he left. He had a very important errand to run.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

Rafe had tried to escape, but no matter how hard he tried—he had for the full hour Lani was gone—he couldn't budge. He heard the door unlocking and tensed. He didn't know exactly how mentally unstable Lani was, or what she had planned to do to him. Judging by the bull whip across the face, her intentions weren't good. His face still ached.

Lani slowly made her way down the stairs with a plate of food. "Lunchtime!" he purred.

Rafe looked at the plate. It was a slice of pizza and a breadstick. She had a can of Coke in her hand.

"Don't worry. This one's not roofied," she teased as she shook the can at him. She had smiled when saying that, but then her smile quickly faded. "I want you fully awake and aware of everything I'm doing to you."

Rafe swallowed hard. Why hadn't he seen how unstable she was before?

She lifted the slice of pizza up to his lips. "I just got you pepperoni. I figured everyone likes pepperoni, right?"

He nodded. "Right. Thank you." He took a bite. He hadn't eaten since the night before. He was starved, and knew he had to keep his strength up if he wanted even a little bit of a chance to get out of this. Also, he had to play nice. There was no knowing what horrible thing she would do to him if he said no to her.

"You know, Rafe, you could have had it all. You could have had a smoking hot girlfriend who would do anything for you—not to mention incredible sex. But, no. Instead you chose to reject me," Lani said as she fed him.

Rafe instantly wasn't very hungry anymore, but he ate anyway as she babbled on. He had no idea how he was going to get out of here, or even where he was. He had told no one he was going to Lani's for dinner that night. Heck, he had never mentioned to anyone that he had hung out with her outside of work. He was screwed. No one would suspect her of foul play. She was a cop. She knew what to do to make sure she didn't get caught.

Lani rambled on, but he tuned her out as he finished his dinner.

He had to come up with a plan, he knew.

"You know, it was nice of you to bring me dinner. You didn't have to," he said to her.

She shrugged. "I need to keep your alive so that you can endure the things I have planned for you."

Rafe felt shivers down his spine. "Still, it was a nice meal. It could have been something unpleasant but you chose to give me something good."

Lani tossed his paper plate away in the big trash can she had down there. She tossed the can in the recycling bin that was also down there.

"You know, maybe I misjudged you," Rafe said as he watched her. "You do treat me right. You actually care about me, unlike Hope, who cheated on me with Aiden despite the fact that he was going to kill her."

Lani turned around to face him. "Exactly! Yet, you still have feelings for Hope!"

"A little," Rafe agreed. "But they start to fade every day. It's just going to take some time. We dated for a year. Feelings like that don't just go away overnight. However, with your help, I'm sure they could go away a lot quicker."

Lani slowly walked over to him. She ran her hands up his thighs. "I could think of a few ways I could help you forget her."

Rafe looked down at her hands. Her thumb was moving up and down over his crotch. The thought of letting her do things to his body made him want to hurl. However, it was better than the alternative. "Just let me out of this contraption so that I can help pleasure you in return," he said to her.

She hesitated for a moment. "So, you're not mad at me for drugging you then bringing you here and locking you in that chair?"

"I was at first, but now…no. I deserved it. You were a hundred percent right! I need to get over Hope who doesn't give two shakes about me and give you a chance. I know you'd love me and never cheat on me," Rafe said to her, trying to make his voice sound sincere as possible.

Lani smiled at him. "You're right. I wouldn't! Not ever! I'll unlock it, but I have to unlock the head part from behind—that's where the lock is."

Rafe felt relief. He'd do whatever he had to do to gain her trust once unlocked. If that meant playing the doting boyfriend until they got back to Salem, he would.

Lani went behind him and he heard her grab something which he assumed was the key off of somewhere. However, she came back around without unlocking the headpiece, and she had something in her hand that certainly wasn't a key! It was a Taser. His heart started to speed up.

"Lani, what are you..?" Rafe trailed off, his heart pounding practically out of his chest. He started to sweat.

Lani's eyes were cold. She looked pure evil to him. "You didn't think I'd be stupid enough to fall for your sudden 180 did you?" she asked, smacking the side of the Taser against her hand.

Rafe swallowed hard. "Lani, I wasn't tricking you. I really do want to be with you," he said to her, trying his best to stay calm.

Lani rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right! How stupid do you think I am, Rafe? Did you actually think I'd believe you'd forgive me after I drugged you and locked you up? That I'd believe that me giving you a good dinner suddenly made you see the light?" She shook her head. "I'm not stupid, Rafe! You just tried to trick me, and now you've got to pay the price—the Lani Price." Lani laughed at her own joke. Lani Price. Get it?"

Rafe winced. "I swear I'm not trying to trick you, Lani! I want to be with you! I really do!" He was panicked now. She was completely insane, and he now knew it. It was clearly written all over her face.

Lani walked over to him and gently ran her hand over the crotch of his jeans again. "You lost your chance, Rafe. We could have had it all together. You could have had so much pleasure here." She stroked him over his pants again. Then she looked him in the eyes, her cold eyes boring into his terrified eyes. "But now you're going to have to suffer through pain instead like the pain you inflicted on my heart by rejecting me time and time again!" She held the stun gun up and made it crackle in the air.

"Lani… Lani, no. You're not going to… You can't be serious!" Rafe said, his eyes getting wide as it dawned on him what she was going to do.

Lani shrugged. "Sorry, Rafe, but this is a lesson you need to be taught." She then stepped back and positioned the Taser.

Rafe's heart was pounding, sweat was pouring down his face and neck in rivers, and his eyes as wide as saucers. "Lani, no. Lani, **_no_**!" cried out.

"Sorry not sorry, Rafe. It's time for you to pay." With those words, Lani stuck the Taser to his crotch and shot off the Taser.

Rafe screamed as the pain hit him hard. He had never felt more pain in his life. Then, all went back as he passed out from the pain.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

"Hello, Young man!" an elderly woman who worked at the jewelry store said as Aiden entered the store. "My name is Mabel. Is there anything I can help you with?"

Aiden smiled brightly at her. "Hello, Young lady!" he said to her in return.

She giggled. "No one has called me that since I was in my twenties."

"Well, you don't look a day over twenty one," he said to her.

She giggled some more. "I like you! You flatter me."

Aiden flashed his dimples at her again. "I'm going to flatter you some more by saying you look like you have excellent taste. I'm here to buy an engagement ring for my girlfriend. I was wondering which rings you think a woman would like to receive."

"That is one lucky lady! We have some beautiful rings over here that would be just stunning for any woman to receive," she said.

"Excellent!" Aiden said as Mabel led him over to a display case.

"Do you know what cut she likes?" Mable asked him.

Aiden shook his head as he examined the rings. "I don't think she's too picky." He looked at Mable. "Is this all you have? I guess I'm pickier than she is. I can't really see anything that speaks to me.

"What is she like as a person?" Mable asked.

Aiden didn't know what that had to do anything, but he loved talking about Hope, so he humored Mable. "Well, her name is Hope," he began.

Mable smiled. "Hope. What a beautiful name!"

Aiden grinned, nodded, and continued. "She' a police officer, so protecting the ones she loves is everything to her."

"A wonderful trait to have!" Mable said with a head nod.

"She loves her children. She has a seventeen-year-old daughter and a son in his mid-thirties. She's even an amazing mother to my seventeen-year-old son whose mother died when he was only four," Aiden continued.

"The poor dear!" Mable said, referring to Chase.

"She loves life. She's so kindhearted and loving. She makes me so happy!" Aiden beamed. "She loves tulips. They are her favorite." He took out a picture of Hope from his wallet and showed it to Mable. It was of Hope was holding an armful of colorful tulips, a huge grin on her face. It had been taken when they planted the flowers together at the Horton cabin.

"Wow. She is absolutely breathtaking!" Mable said as she looked at the picture. She handed Aiden back the photo.

Aiden grinned, and put the photo back in his wallet. "Isn't she though?"

"You know, I have something in the back. Technically it isn't supposed to go on sale until next week, but I think I can make an acceptation for a beautiful woman like Hope because the ring sounds just perfect for her! Hold on a sec…" Mable headed to the back room, and came out a moment later holding a silver velvet box. She opened the box up and Aiden looked down at the ring it displayed inside. His eyes immediately lit up. "It's perfect!" He looked at Mable. "I'll take it!"

Mable grinned at him. "I thought you might!" She winked at him.

Aiden grinned. He was thrilled with the ring, and he knew that Hope would be too. Now all he had to worry about was whether or not she'd say yes! And of course that little thing he had to do tonight… But he'd worry about that when the time came.


	35. S2E11

**_Days of our Haiden_**

 ** _Season 2 Episode 11: Crazy in Love_**

"Are you sure they don't mind me joining you?" Aiden asked Hope as they arrived at Doug and Julie's for dinner.

Hope took his hand and kissed it. "Of course they don't mind. They know I'm a good judge of character, so they trust my judgment on you."

Aiden sighed. "I know I brought it upon myself, but I'm just tired of being beat up on by everyone in Salem. You and Chase are the only two who treat me like a normal human being instead of a monster."

"Roman's letting you into the police academy," Hope reminded him.

Aiden shrugged. "I know he doesn't like me. He's doing this for you; not me. He simply just tolerates me."

"Well who cares what other people think? All that matters is you, me, and our love for each other," Hope said to him. She kissed his hand again. "Doesn't it?"

"Your own daughter hates me, as does Shawn," Aiden reminded her.

"Ciara hates everybody. You know her," Hope joked.

Aiden managed to smile but it was weak, and Hope knew it.

Hope put a finger under Aiden's chin and gently forced him to look into her eyes. "Mr. Jennings, hey. Look at me. She's coming around. Don't worry. As for Shawn, he just needs to trust you again. He eventually will. He is a cop, and on top of that, very protective of his mother. He too will come around in time. I promise you he will. This whole town will once they see how happy you make me."

"Everybody in Salem loves you. I can see why," Aiden said with a more sincere smile. He gently ran the back of his hand over her cheek.

Hope leaned forward and kissed him softly on the lips, his face between her hands. "And soon everyone will love you too!" She smiled at him. "Come on. Let's go eat! I'm starved." She got out of the car, and Aiden followed suit.

He walked a little bit behind her, still nervous about tonight for more reasons than one. He had planned on going to see Doug and Julie after choosing the ring. He wanted to ask Doug's permission to marry Hope. He figured it was the least he could do after what he had done to Doug's "little girl". However, Julie was extremely busy with the Bed and Breakfast she owned, and Doug was who knew where, so Aiden decided to just pull Doug aside privately tonight and ask him then.

"Hey Daddy!" Hope said after walking right in and seeing her father was there waiting for her.

"Hope!" Doug ran to her and embraced her. "I missed you my Darling! It's been days since you've come to see us."

"I know. Things have just been hectic at work. I won't wait so long in between next time I promise," Hope said, hugging him tightly back.

Julie came into the room then and more greetings and hugs were exchanged.

Julie then looked at Aiden the distaste on her face. "Hello, Aiden. Glad you could join us." Her tone wasn't quite as friendly as her words.

Doug just nodded at him, not looking exactly pleased with him either.

"Thank you for having me. I know I'm not exactly your favorite person right now," Aiden said quietly. He was starting to rethink this whole asking Doug's permission thing.

"And why do you think that is, Aiden?" Doug tested, crossing his arms over his chest.

Aiden looked away. "You have every right to hate me after what I did." He looked at Doug, and then at Julie. "But I am not that person anymore. I had thought I was doing the right thing in protecting my son, but now I know how insane I had been to think that way."

Julie crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow at him. "You think?"

"What about protecting my daughter? Hm? The woman whom you married and promised to love? What did you think that would do to her children? Did you think they'd enjoy losing their mother? Especially after their father had abandoned them—or so they thought! How could any decent person do such a thing?" Doug asked.

Julie shrugged. "He's not a decent person."

"That is enough! Aiden is so not that man anymore! Now we've all done things we're not proud of. We also all know what we would do for our children. Should he have come to me or Roman or Rafe instead of trying to kill me? Yes! But I know personally how the threat to the ones you love—especially a threat to your children—can affect your mental stability. Look at me; I tried to kill all the men in Salem! True, it was the effect of those pills, but still… The threat to your child can be just as powerful as pills if not more so. I understand why you're angry. I was angry too for the longest time. But then Aiden came back and he made me see how he's changed. He loves me and he makes me happier than I've ever been since Bo died. As much as I loved Rafe, even the love and happiness I shared with him doesn't compare. Now if I can forgive Aiden, then so can you! You will be civil and nice to Aiden, and you will get over this animosity you feel toward him!" Hope snapped.

Aiden felt his heart swell with even more love for Hope than it already held. He looked at Doug and Julie to gauge their reactions.

Doug and Julie looked at each other, and then at Hope.

"I don't appreciate you talking to us like that, Young Lady," Doug chastised.

Hope crossed her arms over her chest. "Well I don't appreciate you not trusting my judgment and being rude to the man that I love."

Doug sighed. "Fine. If you say he's changed then I believe you. It's still going to take me some time to trust him again though." He looked at Aiden. "Don't expect for it to happen overnight!"

Aiden held his hands up in defense. "I'm just grateful for the second chance. But let me tell you this, I love your daughter more with every beat of my heart, and I will never hurt her again. I'd rather kill myself than ever hurt her again. "

"Don't go doing that. Just treat her right. I swear if you do one more thing to hurt her, you will not be killing yourself because I won't let you. I will torture you until you are begging for death!" Julie snapped.

"Julie!" Hope snapped.

Aiden placed a hand over Hope's shoulder and gently rubbed it. "It's all right." He looked at Julie. "I'd say that is plenty fair."

Julie nodded, still eyeing him suspiciously. "Now let's go eat before dinner gets cold."

They all headed into the dining room.

Hope placed an arm around Aiden's waist. "Give it time. They'll come around," she murmured in his ear before kissing his cheek.

Aiden kissed her cheek in return, wondering if maybe he should skip asking Doug's permission now.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

 ****Rafe woke up, still aching from the stun gun attack. Lani was nowhere to be found.

He looked at the clock on the wall. It was dinnertime. It had been six hours since he had been Tasered. He wondered if people were starting to wonder where he was. Not that it would do any good if they were. He didn't even know where he was.

He tried to break free, but it was no use. The chair was solid steel, and he was in there very tightly. Lani knew what she was doing.

Suddenly, he heard the basement door unlocking. He felt sick to his stomach. God only knew what dastardly thing Lani had planned for him now.

She came down the stairs carrying a tray. He couldn't see what was on it until she got over to him and set it on the portable table that was down there. There was shaving cream, a razor, a bowl of water, and a folded red towel.

"Just so you know, I went back to Salem today and texted Roman from your phone that you had the flu and would not be in for a week. He texted you back very understanding. He says you just rest and get feel better soon. He will get someone to cover for you. I even texted it from in front of your house in case they ever try to trace the text. I also keep your phone off most of the time just to be on the safe side," Lani explained.

Rafe felt his stomach sink. They'd get suspicious eventually. They'd come looking for him. He couldn't be sick forever. Lani was a good cop though. She would cover her tracks. His only hope was that she messed up somehow.

"I bet you're wondering what I plan on shaving and why," Lani said as she sprayed some shaving cream onto her hands.

"Why don't you enlighten me?" Rafe asked.

"Well, you think you're so hot that you can get any woman you want. This is only the beginning of the things I'm going to take away from you that you love. Hope is already madly in love with Aiden. I'm sure she begs him to make love to her every night. She couldn't stay away from him even when she was with you." Lani smirked at him. "That says something right there."

Rafe felt both sadness and anger raging inside of him, but he knew he had to keep his cool. "What does that have to do with my hair?"

Lani rolled her eyes. "You're not too bright, are you? Hope is one thing you cared about and the way you look is also something you care about. Hope's been taken care of, so now it's time to take care of your looks. You won't be so handsome without your hair, now will you?"

"Please no," Rafe said trying his best to look worried. He needed her to think that he minded, so that she would do it. He didn't want his hair shaved, but honestly, compared to what she had done to him already, he would gladly take having his whole body shaved.

"Sorry, but it has to be done." Lani took the shaving cream and ran it through his hair like shampoo. She then took the razor and began to shave his head.

"An electric razor would have been easier and faster," Rafe told her.

Lani nodded. "True." She shaved off a chunk of his hair. "But if I used an electric razor, I wouldn't be able to do this!" In a flash, she had cut his scalp.

Rafe cried out in surprise and pain. "What the hell did you just do?"

Lani cackled. "I sliced your head. What did you think I did?" She then continued to shave his head, here and there cutting his scalp as well.

Rafe cried out in pain. It felt like forever until she had finished, but in reality, it had only taken about five minutes to have his head completely.

"Next are your eyebrows." She winced as she placed some shaving cream on them. "I'm doing you a favor here. It looks like you have two caterpillars on your face!"

Race winced as she shaved them off. She was rough; so rough that a little bit of blood began to drip down over both eyes.

She rinsed the blade off. "I'm sorry. Let's get that blood off your face." She then pressed the towel hard against his eyebrows, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Stop being such a baby! I've got to put pressure on it so they clot." After a minute she took the towel off and examined his eyebrows. "You got a few cut marks, but they will heal. If they have time to. At least the bleeding stopped." She shaved his face, not caring that she cut his cheeks and chin as well. She wiped off the blood with the towel, and pressed it against the new cuts to stop the bleeding. She put the towel over his head after that and held it there for a minute or two in the same fashion. Then she took it off and examined his scalp. "Oo, those marks will leave scars but don't worry. The bleeding stopped there too."

Lani walked around to the front of him and started undoing his pants. "It's time to get these off you. I'm sure by now they are soiled anyway."

It took her a good ten minutes to get them off. It was hard to get them and his underwear off with him sitting down, but she eventually managed to. "I know this is gross for the both of us, but it's too dangerous to transport you to the bathroom, and I couldn't figure out any other way to have to go to the bathroom when strapped to this chair. It's too much of a pain to change a diaper with you sitting down all the time. I guess I should have strapped you down on a mental slap instead. Oh well. Too late now. I'll just breathe through my mouth. You'll probably want to do the same. It won't matter soon anyway."

Rafe felt humiliation. He had gone to the bathroom in every way. He not only felt disgusting, but now that he was exposed and knew that he would have to keep repeating the process and sitting in his own filth, he felt shamed even though it wasn't his fault.

Over the next fifteen minutes, Lani shaved his legs, cutting them up as well. She also cut his shirt open and shaved and cut his arms and chest. That took another twenty minutes. Finally, she headed for his groin. It was already sore from the Taser. He didn't even want to think about how it was going to feel being shaved and cut. "Please don't," he pleaded, though he knew it was of no use.

She grinned at him. "Maybe next time you'll think twice before rejecting me," she said before bringing the razor down to his most private area.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

Dinner had been tolerable. Doug and Julie had inquired about Aiden's job, and about him joining the police academy. They did seem rather intrigued that he wanted to become a better person.

Hope helped Julie clear the plates, and then she was going to help her bring the dessert out. Aiden chose that opportunity to talk to Doug. He decided to still ask his permission to marry Hope. After all, if he didn't, it would only give Doug another reason not to like him.

Aiden cleared his throat. "Doug, I wanted to ask you something," he began.

Doug motioned with his hand. "Ask away."

"Well, I bought a ring earlier—an engagement ring," Aiden confessed.

Doug raised an eyebrow, and crossed his arms over his chest. "Is that so?"

Aiden nodded. "I want to ask your daughter to marry me again. I want to do right by her this time. I love her more with every beat of my heart and I promise you I will spend the rest of my life making what I did to her up to her. But before I propose to her, I wanted to ask for your permission."

Doug was silent for a moment. "You've barely been back with her and you want to propose to her already?"

Aiden shrugged. "Why not? She completely forgives and trust me now. I love her and don't want to wait a moment longer."

"You don't need my permission. Hope is the only one who can make the decision of whether or not she wants to marry you," Doug replied.

Aiden nodded. "I know, but I'd feel much better if I had your blessing."

Doug sighed. He then looked Aiden in the eyes. "I will give you my blessing if marrying you is what Hope would like. But let me tell you, Aiden Jennings, if you even try to hurt her again you will wish for death by the time Julie and I are both through with you."

Again, Aiden nodded. "Duly noted."

Before Doug could reply, Julie and Hope came in with the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake that Julie had made for dessert.

"What were you two talking about? You both look like you're lost in thought," Hope said eyeing her father and boyfriend suspiciously.

"I was just telling him how much I love you," Aiden said to her.

Doug nodded. "We were able to come to an understanding."

Hope grinned. She sat down next to Aiden and kissed his cheek. She side hugged him. "Thank you for coming around, Daddy."

Doug smiled at her. "Anything for you, my Princess!"

Hope grinned at him.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

 ****Rafe's whole body hurt. Lani had put away the shaving gear and had cleaned his wounds and stopped the bleeding. Now she had a soda and a bowl of macaroni and cheese for him, which she was trying to feed him. He was in too much pain, and was far too stressed to feel like eating.

"Fine! Don't eat. It's no sweat off _my_ back." Lani took the food and drink and headed up the stairs. She then turned back to face him. "Oh, and Rafe? You know the other reason I got rid of all your hair?"

"Why?" Rafe asked.

She smirked. "Because when a body is burned, it's the scent of the hair that makes it smell, and that alerts other people for foul play. If you burn a body without hair, it smells like someone's just cooking meat."

Rafe's mouth dropped open as it hit him that her endgame was killing him.

Lani cackled, and headed up the stairs. "All in due time, Rafe. All in due time."

As Lani left the basement, shutting and locking the door behind her, Rafe threw up on the floor. The last thing he wanted to do was add to the stench in the room and to make himself even more disgusting, but at this point he had to wonder. What did it even matter?

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

"I think tonight went quite well. What do you think?" Hope asked before kissing Aiden's neck. They had their arms around each other and were standing at the foot of their bed.

He began unbuttoning her shirt. "It went better than I thought it would, thanks to you." He began kissing up her neck as he blindly undid the rest of the buttons on her shirt.

"What were you and my father taking about while Julie and I were in the kitchen?" Hope asked as she undid his shirt. She began kissing down his chest as she exposed it.

"I just told him how I would never hurt you again, and that I am a changed man. I told him how much I love you, and that you are my world. He's still a little cynical about me having changed, but at least he doesn't give me the death glare anymore." Aiden grinned.

Hope pushed his shirt off his shoulders to the floor and kissed him softly on the lips. "Give it a few months and he'll have completely forgotten about the past."

"I doubt that, but hopefully," Aiden said.

"He will. I know my father. Once he sees how happy you make me, all will be forgiven. I promise." Hope kissed him again, and they finished undressing each other as they kissed more passionately.

Aiden then picked Hope up, and carried her to bed.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

"So, what did Aiden have to say when Hope and I were in the kitchen?" Julie asked Doug as they sat together on their balcony overlooking the lake and drank their decaffeinated coffees.

"He told me he bought a ring, and that he plans on proposing to Hope soon," Doug confessed.

Julie's eyes widened. "Say what? But they only just got back together not that long ago! He's really going to propose to her after trying to strangle the life out of her?"

Doug shrugged. "I know it seems too soon, but he really does seem to have changed."

Julie raised an eyebrow at him. "You can't be seriously okay with this."

Doug looked at her. "At first I wasn't, but then I figured that if Hope trusts him, then she must be able to see that he has changed. He really does seem to make her the happiest I've seen her since Bo died."

Julie sighed. "I will say this at least. The way he looks at her reminds me of the way you used to look at me."

"I still look at you that way, don't I?" Doug asked.

Julie nodded. "You do, but now the look has a lot more wrinkles to it than it used to."

Doug gasped. "You're no spring chicken yourself anymore!" he said to her.

Julie gasped this time.

Doug smiled. "But you're just as beautiful as you were the day I first laid eyes on you—if not even more beautiful."

Julie set her coffee down, and then walked over to him and sat down on his lap. "And you're the handsomest guy I have ever seen in my life to this day."

They kissed.

"So, what do you say? Should we give Aiden another chance for Hope's sake?" Doug asked.

Julie sighed. "I suppose so for Hope's sake. He does seem to make her incredibly happy. But I'm going to be sharpening all the kitchen knives just in case Aiden gets out of line."

Doug chuckled. "I'll help you do that tomorrow."

Julie chuckled as well, and they kissed again.

 ** _~*This love came back to me.*~_**

 ****Hope and Aiden lie in bed, Hope in her pink satin nightie and Aiden in a pair of blue and green plaid boxer shorts.

Hope lay with her head on his naked chest. She kissed it. "Are you excited to join the police academy?" she asked.

"You know it!" he agreed. He was a little nervous, but he didn't want to show any insecurity to her. He had to prove to her that he could be as strong as Bo and Rafe; that he wasn't just some little weakling. "You know, I was thinking… I know it's late notice, but why don't you and I go on a weekend trip next weekend? My physical is earlier in the week, and the Police Academy doesn't start until the Monday after this coming Monday. Do you think you could get the time off?"

Hope smiled up at him. "I could. Why the sudden getaway?"

"I just think it would be nice for us to get out of town and reconnect," he said to her.

"Where do you have in mind?" she asked.

"I was thinking we could go out to The Cayman Islands. I hear their beaches are really beautiful there. The water is so crystal blue. I can imagine us walking hand-in-hand along the beach and making love in a hotel room that has a balcony overlooking the beach…." He kissed down the side of her neck, then moved her strap down a bit and kissed over her shoulder.

She closed her eyes. "Sounds perfectly romantic." She opened her eyes and turned on her side to face him. Her eyes twinkled. "Let's do it!"

"Excellent! I will book it tomorrow." He kissed her hand. "I can't wait to get away with you."

"It will be fun." Hope kissed him on the lips, then rested her head on his chest again, her arms wrapped around him. "And romantic." She closed her eyes, already starting to drift off to sleep.

Aiden kissed the top of her head, and began gently stroking her hair. "More than you know, my Love," he murmured before drifting off to sleep as well.


	36. S2E12

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **Season 2 Episode 12: I'll Remember**_

A week had passed. Rafe was ready to die at this point. No one was looking for him he was sure. Lani had texted Roman from Rafe's phone, telling him he needed to get out of town for a few days for mental health reasons. He missed Hope too much and couldn't bear to be around her or the place that reminded him of her. Roman had been ever so understanding, according to Lani.

Lani had shaved him again from head to toe. At least she had someone cleaned up his bodily fluid mess on the floor with a broom, dustpan, and mop, as well as one big trash bag. However, the stench was still in the room, for he re-messed the room up daily. He supposed he should just be grateful that she was more gentle with shaving him the second time around. His cuts were healing, and he had been afraid she would reopen them, but she hadn't. Even so, she had plucked his eyelashes out with tweezers, and that had been almost as painful as the cuts.

"All right. So, you have your looks taken from you, and of course Hope is taken from you. She asked for time off at the station so that she and Aiden could go on a romantic getaway this weekend." Lani smirked. "I bet you they are going to be spending all weekend in bed."

Rafe wanted to hurl—and not just because of the stench that still lingered in the room.

Lani grinned. "I bet she screams his name in ecstasy in ways she never screamed yours. The guy looks like he's amazing in bed. You were good, but I've had much better."

Rafe felt the anger welling inside of him. "If I'm not that good, then why do you want me so badly?" he snapped.

Lani looked him up and own, tapping her lips with an index finger. "You know what? That is a good question! Don't worry. I'm soon done with you. There's just one more thing you love that I have to take away from you first."

"What's that?" Rafe asked. He had already lost everything. There was not much else she could take away from him other than his life. He suddenly felt the urge to throw up again.

Lani smirked. "Why, your family of course! I'm going to make sure your dad, your mother, your brother, and your sister too are all demolished. I'm not a _total_ monster. I'll let little Arianna live. She can go live with her Daddy Sonny. That is, if he can even be bothered to act like a father to that little brat."

Rafe suddenly got angry. "Look. Your beef is with me; not them. Kill me, but let them be!"

Lani shook her head. "I'm sick of your family being the heroes of this town! They all have to go. Sorry not sorry," Lani said, taking out Rafe's cell phone.

Rafe's face turned red. "I swear if you hurt a hair on any of their heads, I'll—"

Lani cut him off. "You'll what, Rafe? Hm? What are you going to do in that chair? Nothing! That's what." She was quiet as she sent out a mass texts.

After a moment, she put the phone back in her pocket. "There! I just texted a mass text to all of them asking them to come to this address ASAP. You bought a huge house as a surprise, and you want them all to see it."

"What are you planning on doing? Locking them up as well?" Rafe asked.

Lani nodded. "In this basement, yes. None of the windows are low enough or even big enough to crawl out of. First, I'm going to douse this basement in gasoline. Then, when they come down here and find you, I will light a match, toss it down into the basement, and lock your family down here so that you can all burn together."

"You're sick! You sick and twisted Bitch!" Rafe snapped.

Lani slapped him hard across the face, which hurt worse than normal because of her long acrylic nails and spiked metal ring. "I don't know what I ever saw in you."

Rafe's phone buzzed in her pocket, and she looked at the texts.

"Crap!" she said. "Your mom is working, and so is your sister. Your father and brother will come out though." She texted them back that she (Rafe) was looking forward to showing them the house, then she put the phone away again.

"They'll be leaving in an hour, so they should be here in about three or four hours." She smirked at Rafe. "It's only three or four hours, then you will be put out of your misery. You have three or four hours to live. I won't be able to shave them, but, oh well. As long as you're all dead, no one will ever know I'm behind this. Honestly, no one is around to smell the stench of the burning hair on your bodies anyway. I really just wanted the fun of shaving you, hurting you, and humiliating you."

She turned to leave. "I have a few errands to run before the big event." She grabbed something off the table. "And not that there is any way for you to warn your family or escape, but just in case, I'm going to need you out cold again." She turned around and zapped Rafe in the same place she had zapped him before. He hadn't even had time to see it coming.

Rafe screamed in pain.

Lani then took her police baton and bashed him over the head with it so hard, he passed out. She shrugged. "Hey. I did you a favor. At least passed out, you can't feel the pain." She kissed his cheek, then set the baton down. "It's so nice being a police officer and having all these fun tools!" she gushed before heading back up the basement stairs. She left the basement, making sure the all doors were locked securely before she left the house to run her special errands.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

It was the final day of camp. It had been one long week. Thankfully, for the most part, the other camp hadn't been over at their camp. But they had made appearances here and there, and the kids from the other camp were horrible to Jonah. Jonah knew it was all about of their councilors coaching them to be horrible to him. The kids called him fat, and one little brat had even kicked him and bit his arm. It hadn't broken the skin, but it had still hurt, and left an impression in his arm. Gracie—the main councilor who was supposed to supervise everything—barely even made an appearance, so they were all left to fend for themselves.

Jonah never wanted to go to camp again after this. He was just grateful it was the last day. It was currently Friday and they would return home Saturday evening.

Today they were having a canoe race with the other camp. That meant the other camp was at their camp, and Jonah was none too pleased about it.

"Ick! I just saw a huge spider in our cabin! Joey was going to smash it, but Theo wouldn't let him. He picked it up and let it outside. He loves spiders. Ick! They creep me out!" Claire said to Jonah.

Jonah shrugged. "They don't bother me too much. Snakes are what terrify me. I hate snakes! It is the one thing that will get me running for the hills!" he said to her.

"Or an all you can eat buffet, you fat pig!" Kyle, a fourteen-year-old boy who was practically a mini version of AJ said to him. He was from Camp Hakui of course.

"Yeah, if the buffet is by the hills," Rachel, a bratty little ten-year-old redheaded girl, also from Camp Hakui said. She and Kyle laughed, and did Becca, for wherever Rachel was, there was Becca. Becca was what appeared to be Rachel's role model, which of course explained Rachel's brattiness.

"I don't care if you're a kid. Keep it up and I'll knock your freaking teeth out!" Ciara snapped at the kids.

"My dad's a lawyer. You just try it! He'll sue you for all your worth!" Rachel snapped.

Ciara lowered her eyes at her. "Well, my mom's a cop who can cover up any crime she wants, and her boyfriend is the best lawyer in the US. So bring it!"

Rachel shot her a nasty look, but backed off.

Theo raised an eyebrow. "That's the first time I've ever heard you compliment Aiden!"

Ciara scowled. "Yeah, well desperate times cause for desperate measures."

"All right, everyone, it's time for the canoe race! Teams will get into their canoes and race to the other side of the lake and back. The first team to have all of their team back first wins the trophy that will be displayed in the winning camp's trophy display case. It will be engraved with the winning camp's name on it. Also, the winning team will get to have a group photo with the trophy to take home," Gracie, who surprisingly had showed up for the days' festivities, explained.

"Woo! Just what I always dreamed of having. A picture holding a trophy," Joey said sarcastically under his breath.

Claire elbowed him. "Don't be a jerk like AJ."

Joey rolled his eyes. "Don't compare me to that douche."

They then all got into their canoes. Each camp had three canoes with two councilors and four campers per canoe.

Gracie squeezed the air horn once they were off, and the race was on.

It took some time to get across the lake and back. Of course being jocks, AJ and Jason had no trouble getting their canoe to the other side of the lake and back. They were the first to arrive back.

Ciara and Theo weren't far behind them, though Jake and Becca arrived about the same time they did.

Rochelle and Lauren were next, followed by Chase and Claire. Dead last was Jonah and Joey, but only by a little.

Camp Hakui cheered, and their campers high-fived the councilors.

"No wonder Jonah was last! His boat was weighed down by all Jonah's fat!" Kyle said.

"Hey, Jonah! Are you sure it wasn't you who swallowed the whale instead of the other way around?" Rachel asked, referring to the Jonah and the whale from the Bible.

Jake, Becca, AJ, and Jason all laughed, and high fived both Kyle and Rachel. Rochelle rolled her eyes.

Lauren slapped AJ on the shoulder. "Don't encourage him! It is so unprofessional to laugh with the bullying campers instead of condoning them for being nasty!" She whipped around to Kyle and Rachel. "And you two! You both need to respect the counselors!"

Kyle rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well he needs to respect a diet!"

"Or the gym!" Rachel added. She and Kyle laughed and high-fived.

Lauren glared at them as the fellow Hakui campers laughed, along with AJ and his pals.

Lauren clenched her fists and let out a frustrated cry.

Jonah placed a hand over her shoulder. "It's all right. Don't worry about it! I appreciate you sticking up for me."

Lauren squeezed his hand. "You know what? Tonight after dinner, meet my by the dock. You and I can go for a canoe trip—just the two of us. No one will miss us. We can bring our dessert on the canoe with us."

Jonah grinned big. "Sounds good to me!"

Lauren grinned too, and kissed his cheek. "Meet me tonight at 5:30," she whispered in his ear before walking over to get her picture with the rest of her camp and their trophy.

Jonah touched his cheek and smiled, the bullying already forgotten about.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"This is such a breathtaking view! I can't get over it," Hope said as she stood on the balcony of hers and Aiden's hotel room. It overlooked the ocean. It was a warm evening with a cool breeze blowing her hair. They had gotten to the Cayman Islands early, and looked around the little shops and boutiques most of the day. They had then had lunch on the beach and after that, they had spent a couple hours on the beach, followed by a boat tour.

Hope had then wanted to take a nap. While Hope had napped, Aiden had gone out and set up a little surprise for her. He had gotten back just as Hope had awaken. Now, she was looking out at the balcony as he changed for dinner.

Aiden finished getting ready and came out to join her. He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. "Aside from you, nothing beautiful really phases me anymore. I get to see your beauty on a daily basis. Who needs anything else?"

She smiled. "You always lay it on pretty thickly."

"Well, it's all true." He pushed some hair away from her neck and kissed the side of her neck. "You deserve to be told every day how beautiful you are."

She turned around and kissed him.

He hungrily kissed her in return until her kisses turned into the kind that he knew meant she was getting in the mood for more than just kissing.

Hope tried to push him back toward the bedroom, but he stopped her. "Not yet. I have a surprise for you first. We have to go back to the beach for it."

She pouted. "But we were already at the beach all day!"

"You'll like it even better this time. Trust me," he assured her.

Hope sighed. "All right." So, she took his hand and they headed out to the beach, which was literally only a few yards from their hotel that was right on the beach.

When they got to the beach, the first thing Hope noticed was that nobody was around.

"Where is everybody?" she asked.

Aiden grinned. "I called in a favor with the mayor—free law services the next time he needs a lawyer. In return, he did was he had to do and ended up getting this section of the beach reserved for just the two of us. I would have tried for the whole beach, but with a hotel right on the beach, it's kind of hard to stop people from going on the beach all together."

Hope grinned too. "That's understandable!"

Aiden then led her over between two palm trees where a blue blanket waited for them. It had a Champaign bottle on it in an ice bucket. There was also a bowl of fresh strawberries. "A waiter from the beach restaurant will be coming out with burgers and fries for our dinner."

Hope took his face between her hands and kissed him softly on the lips. "How did I ever get so lucky to land a man who's this romantic?" she asked.

Aiden's eyes lowered with love for her, and he kissed her softly on the lips. "Baby, I'm the lucky one."

They kissed some more, then sat down together on the blanket. No sooner had they sat down had the waiter brought out burgers, fries, and sodas for them.

"I hope you don't mind me having ordered for you," Aiden said to her.

Hope shook her head. "Not at all! You know what I like." She gently rubbed his thigh. "In more ways than one," she murmured in his ear, causing him to blush.

"I will come back out in twenty minutes to collect your empty plates," the waiter told them.

"Thank you! Would it be possible to get a little container of chocolate sauce for the strawberries when you come back?" Aiden asked.

The waiter nodded. "Of course!"

Hope and Aiden both thanked him, then their waiter took off.

"It really is such a beautiful night out. Thank you so much for doing this for me," Hope said.

"I just wanted tonight to be special," Aiden assured her.

Hope took his hand and gently squeezed it. "Trust me, it is."

They smiled at each other and kissed, then ate their meals and made small talk.

The waiter came back out once they had finished eating, and he brought the chocolate sauce. Aiden thanked him and paid for the meal and tip in cash, then they were left alone again.

Aiden popped the Champaign cork and it flew over to the side.

Hope laughed, and placed the cork beside the bucket.

Aiden poured them each a glass and held his out to hers in a toast.

She held hers out to him.

"To us and our eternal love for each other. Is that too cheesy?" he asked.

Hope smiled and shook her head. "No. It's absolutely perfect," she said. "To us and our eternal love for each other."

They clinked glasses and drank up.

"Want one?" Aiden asked taking a strawberry and dipping it into the chocolate sauce. He held it to Hope's lips.

Hope ate it from his hand. She closed her eyes, and licked her lips. "Mm… Delicious!" She grinned. "Now it's your turn." She dipped a strawberry in chocolate and fed it to him.

He licked his lips as well. "Mm… _So_ delicious!" he agreed.

They both ate two more each.

"Ugh! I know there are six more left, but I couldn't eat another bite!" Hope said.

Aiden shook his head. "Uh, uh! Me neither. It's okay. Our room has a fridge in it. We can save them and for later with the rest of the Champaign." He noticed Hope was writing something in the sand with her finger. He nodded toward it. "What's that?" He moved over closer to her and saw that she had drawn a heart in between two seashells with _H+A_ written inside the heart. "And you say _I'm_ the romantic one!" he gushed. He took out his phone and snapped a picture of it.

Hope grinned at him.

Aiden then stood up and took her hand. "Come on. Let's go for a walk along the shoreline."

Hope nodded. "All right." She stood up.

They had both already kicked their sandals off. As they headed to the shoreline hand-in-hand, Aiden squeezed the ring box in his pocket with his freehand. It was almost time.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

 __Jonah was so excited! He made sure to comb his curls and dress in his best outfit he had brought to camp. He had even borrowed some of Theo's cologne! He had scarfed down his dinner in record time, and was now waiting by the canoes for Lauren to show up. She was already there, holding her chocolate pudding cup and spoon, just as he was holding his.

"Hi!" Lauren waved. "Are you ready?"

Jonah nodded. "So ready!"

Lauren laughed. "Cool."

Jonah noticed a small cooler in her hand. "What's in there?" he asked her.

"I sneaked us extra puddings and some mini containers of milk," she said with a wink.

Jonah grinned. "Awesome!"

They got into the canoe and together they rowed out to the middle of the lake, where they then stopped and ate their pudding cups.

"Lauren, I really want to thank you for giving me the time of day. No one else at school likes me other than my small group of friends. Heck, sometimes I don't even think my parents like me very much," Jonah said as he ate.

"Well, anyone who doesn't like you is just a jerk and they are missing out!" Lauren said. "I think you're the coolest boy I've ever met!" Lauren gushed.

Jonah smiled and blushed. "Really?"

Lauren nodded and grinned. "Really! You're different than all the other boys. I really like you, Jonah." She moved closer to him and brushed her lips against his ear. She then lowered her voice to a seductive purr. "I mean, I _really_ like you." She ran her hand over his thigh.

"I've never kissed a girl before," Jonah whispered.

Lauren smiled. "Don't worry. It's not rocket science. Just close your eyes and let it happen," she purred.

Jonah closed his eyes.

Lauren smirked, then reached into the cooler. She then took out a water snake and held it up to his lips.

Jonah kissed it.

"Open your eyes," she purred as she took out her phone with her other hand.

Jonah opened his eyes and screamed when he saw the water snake right in front of his face. He moved back in a panic and the canoe began to shake.

Lauren burst out laughing, and took a picture of him. "What's the matter, Jonah? Didn't you like the kiss?" She pushed the snake toward him again and Jonah screamed again. He moved back even further, and fell into the water with a loud splash.

All the sudden, another canoe came over to them from behind. It held AJ, Jason, Becca, and Jake.

"Ha, ha! He fell for it!" AJ said.

Lauren grinned at Jonah who was struggling to stay afloat. "Say cheese!" she snapped another picture of him.

"I don't understand!" Jonah said, latching onto the side of the canoe. "I thought you liked me."

Lauren cackled. "Oh, please! As if I would ever like am ugly, fat, slob like you! I'm a gorgeous cheerleader for goodness sake!" She climbed into AJ, Jason, Becca, and Jake's canoe, and kissed Jason hard on the lips. "Jason's my man. Unlike you, he is incredibly hot and muscular and not a tub of lard like you!"

Jake laughed. "She was playing you the whole time, you fat loser! It was all leading up to this. She was going to make you fall for her and then _bam_! Humiliate you like the loser you are."

"We didn't know how exactly how we were going to humiliate you, but when Lauren overheard you telling Claire how afraid of snakes you were, we knew exactly what to do!" AJ explained.

Lauren grinned. "This lake has water snakes all over the place!"

Jonah quickly climbed back into his own canoe. He was crying. He was too traumatized by both the snake, and being played by Lauren to be able to stop himself from crying this time.

"Aw! We made the itty bitty baby cry!" AJ said in a baby voice.

Lauren snapped a picture. "I can't wait to post these pictures all over school when we return!"

They then took off toward their own camp.

"Goodbye, Loser! Don't let the water snakes get you!" Jason called out.

Jason, AJ, Jake, and Lauren all laughed, then Lauren and Jason made out until their canoe could no longer be seen by Jonah.

Jonah threw himself down onto his stomach in his canoe and sobbed. This time, he couldn't seem to stop.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

After they had been walking along the shoreline for a bit, Aiden stopped Hope and made her face him. He then took both of her hands in his own.

She smiled at him. "What is it?"

"I want you to know that I meant what I said to your father. I love you more with every beat of my heart and breath that I take," Aiden began.

"I feel the same way about you," she said, pulling a hand out of his and gently stroking his cheek with the back of her hand.

"I know to say that I screwed up in the past would be the understatement of all understatements…" Aiden began.

Hope shook her head. "We already discussed this. No more talk of that night, all right?" she said gently.

Aiden nodded. "I just want you to know that I am going to spend the rest of my life making it up to you. Now, I know it's only been four months since we've gotten back together, but Hope, I love you. Now that we've finally gotten things back to the way they were before…when we were together the last time… I talked to your dad about something else that night we had dinner at his and Julie's."

Hope raised an eyebrow. "Oh? About what?"

"About me asking you to become my wife again," Aiden said.

Hope's expression was one of shock.

Aiden took out the ring box and opened it up as he got down on one knee.

Hope gasped, and covered her mouth.

"He says as long as it makes you happy, we have his blessing. And I love you more than life itself. So, Hope Williams Brady Jennings, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife again? Will you marry me…again?"

Hope had tears running down her cheeks.

"I hope those are happy tears," Aiden said with a smile.

Hope nodded. "They are. And yes! Yes, Aiden, I _will_ marry you again." She held out her left ring finger.

"You've just made me the happiest guy to ever live!" Aiden said as he slipped the silver ring in the shape of a tulip on her finger. It was encrusted with diamonds.

Hope looked at it on her finger. "I love it so much! It's a tulip! It's so perfect for me!"

"Nothing but the best for my baby," Aiden said.

Hope pulled him in and kissed him passionately. She then rested her forehead against his and murmured, "Take me back to our room and make love to me, Mr. Jennings. Please?"

Aiden moaned. She didn't have to tell him twice!

He picked her up and carried her away from the shore.

She laughed. "We have to grab our stuff!"

He groaned. "Let's make this quick."

He gently set her down. They put their sandals back on, then gathered up the blanket, ice bucket holding the Champaign, chocolate, and strawberries, then they headed up to their hotel room, eager to celebrate their engagement.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Earlier, Lani had gone out and bought the gasoline she needed. She had paid in cash of course, and didn't get the cans all in the same place. She came down the stairs of the basement and spread the gasoline all around the basement. "This place is really going to blow!" Lani said with a laugh. She made sure not to get any gasoline near the stairway. After all, she didn't want to accidentally burn herself when she threw the match.

"Lani, please. Just leave my family out of this. All right?" Rafe asked.

Lani rolled her eyes. "If I did that, then you could die with some piece of mind that your family is okay." She narrowed her eyes. "You're going to suffer for rejecting me, and if that means seeing your family burn to ashes, then so be it!"

"You're insane! You know that, don't you?" Rafe asked. "You belong in a mental hospital!"

Lani rolled her eyes. "Please! I'm just tired of being rejected by men time and time again. It's time one of them pays for rejecting me! There's nothing wrong with a little payback, Rafe."

"There is when innocent people's lives are at stake!" Rafe snapped.

Lani shrugged. "Sometimes innocent people have to sacrifice themselves for the greater good." She splashed some gasoline over him.

Rafe coughed, for some had gotten in his mouth.

Lani rolled her eyes. "Oh, give me a break!" She walked over to the table and grabbed some duct tape. She cut off a piece and placed it over Rafe's mouth. She then cut off another piece and double layered it. "That ought to hold ya!" she said.

Rafe's phone buzzed in Lani's pocket. She took it out and looked at it. She smiled. "They're here."

She quickly texted back. _Come on in and down to the basement. I need help with something._

She pressed send. She then looked at Rafe. "They're here. I guess this is goodbye. I'd love to say it was nice knowing you, Rafe, but it really wasn't." She kissed his cheek.

Rafe tried to scream, but it was muffled by the duct tape. He tried to break free, but he couldn't. The chair was too strong.

Lani quickly headed up the basement stairs. She then hid behind the open basement door so that she would be out of sight.

Eduardo and Dario came into the house.

"Why did he buy a house all the way out here when his job is back in Salem? It makes no sense!" Dario said.

"He hasn't been the same since Hope left him for Aiden. Take it easy on him. He probably just wants a place to get away from it all; to get away from her. It must be hard having to see her at work all the time and around town with that Aiden guy," Eduardo said.

"This must be the basement," Dario said as they got to the basement door. He sniffed. "Do you smell gasoline?"

Eduardo sniffed as well. "I do. It's very strong in this area. That's odd. Rafe?"

They headed down the basement stairs.

"What the hell?" Dario and Eduardo both asked when they apparently found Rafe shackled up in the chair with the tape over his mouth.

Rafe's muffled scream could be heard.

"Who did this to you?" Eduardo asked.

Lani moved like lightening. She took a matchbox out of her pants pocket and lit the match. She then tossed it down into the basement as far as she could throw it. It hit a nice puddle of gasoline about a foot away from Rafe's chair.

"Look out!" Dario yelled.

Lani quickly shut the door and locked it. She then took the can of gasoline she had on the main stairs of the house, and spilled some gasoline right outside the door of the basement. She then spread the gasoline all along the house. Finally, she stood in the doorway of the house and lit another match. She tossed it into the house causing the main part of the house to go up in flames.

She smiled as she heard screaming coming from the basement.

She shut the house door, then got in her car which she had hidden in the detached garage. Finally, she pulled out onto the road.

By the time she was out of the drive, the whole house started to go up in flames.

She drove for miles before stopping by a sewer. When he was sure no one was around to see, she dropped Rafe's skinny cell phone through the grates of the sewer, then got back into her car and headed back to Salem, laughing as she thought of the Hernandez men burning in the basement. They were probably dead by now she knew.

She smirked. "Justice has finally been served," she said to herself. She only hoped the fire got to them before the smoke inhalation killed them. After all what fun was a murder without making them suffer in the process?

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Chase lie in bed that night. He hoped the night passed soon so that he could get home. After breakfast tomorrow, the campers parents were going to pick them up, then the councilors could go home on the bus they had ridden in on.

This whole time in camp, Chase had tried to think of what his mother had meant by saying that he had hurt her. For all he knew, it was just a meaningless dream. Then again, was there something he was subconsciously not remembering? Had he hurt his mother somehow and he just didn't remember? She had placed her hand over her heart in his dream when she told him that he had hurt her. Maybe it was an emotional thing.

Jonah came into the cabin. Chase was kind of annoyed. He had purposely skipped the s'mores and campfire to be alone to think.

"I didn't think you'd pass up on free s'mores," Chase quipped.

Jonah took off his shoes and began to dress for bed. "I'm not in the mood. Besides, I don't eat all the time! I'm not _that_ fat!"

"Dude, chill! I didn't say you were fat. I just know you like s'mores, so I was just surprised is all. Relax!" Chase said.

Jonah finished getting ready for bed and crawled into bed. He didn't say a word for the longest time as they lie in the darkness. Then, he spoke. "Chase, my parents texted me earlier and said they will be late getting home tomorrow. I forgot to bring my house key. Do you think I could stay at your place until they get home?"

"Sure. No problem," Chase agreed.

"Your parents are away, right?" Jonah asked.

"Right!" Chase confirmed. "We can't throw any party's though, sadly. Hope is a cop. She has a way of finding things out. Besides, they will be home on Sunday and I don't feel like having to clean up a mess before she gets back."

"I always forget she's a cop. Does she keep a gun at home?" Jonah asked.

"Yeah. She has a couple of them. I think she keeps one at the station though," Chase replied.

"Where does she keep the one at home?" Jonah asked.

"In a locked box on top of our coat closet. Why?" Chase asked.

"No reason. Just curious. It must be nice to know she is prepared in case there is ever an intruder in the house," Jonah said.

Chase shrugged. "I never really thought about it, but yeah. I guess so."

"Goodnight, Chase. I'll see you in the morning," Jonah said.

"Goodnight, Jonah." Chase turned onto his side and closed his eyes, trying to think of how he could have hurt his mother, but falling asleep before he could think of anything.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Hope and Aiden lie in bed kissing and making love.

Aiden kissed her neck and she closed her eyes, running her fingers through his hair as he continued to kiss her neck and make love to her.

His lips then met with hers as they continued to share their love for each other.

Even after it was over, they continued to kiss, just loving the feeling of being in each other's arms.

Hope rested her head on his chest and examined her ring. "It's so beautiful. I love that it' a tulip! How did you ever find one like this?"

"I went to a jewelers in the square and told the jeweler a little bit about you and us. I showed her a picture of you, and she came up with this. It wasn't even on sale yet, but she knew it would be perfect for you. She brought it in from the back. As soon as she showed it to me, I knew it was the right ring for my love," Aiden explained. He nodded toward it. "Look on the inside."

Hope slid the ring off her finger and looked inside the band. She read the inscription out loud. "My love for you grows more every day." She looked at Aiden with happy tears in her eyes. "Oh Aiden, it's beautiful!"

"I had it specially inscribed. I thought it was a perfect for you, and perfect for this ring." He took the ring back from her and replaced it on her left ring finger. He then kissed the finger.

Hope pulled him in for a passionate kiss on the lips. She rested her forehead against his. "My love for you grows every day too. In fact, it just grew right now," she said.

"Show me how much it grew," he said quietly.

She moved so that she was now on top of him, his face between her hands. "You want me to show you how much my love for you just grew?" she asked softly, the look of desire and love flashing in her eyes.

Aiden nodded. "Yes show me how much your love for me just grew."

Hope moaned, and then kissed him passionately on the lips as she went to work at doing just that!

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Chase was glad to be home. Camp wasn't his thing. It wasn't horrible, but it really hadn't taken his mind off things. In fact, it seemed to have made things worse. He was eager to be back in his own bed. He also wanted to be hypnotized to try to remember what he did to hurt his mother. Even if he couldn't get Marlena, he'd find another psychiatrist. He knew his parents didn't think he should speak to one, but he wanted to. In fact, he felt he _needed_ to.

"It's dinnertime. Do you guys want to go out for pizza before we head home?" Ciara asked.

Claire nodded. "I'm down. Just let me text my parents and tell them I won't be home for dinner."

Theo nodded. "Same."

"I already assumed we'd be going for dinner, so my parents have already been texted," Joey said. "I texted them on the bus."

"What about you, Jonah? Are you going to join us?" Claire asked.

"Actually, I'm not feeling very well. I think I'm going to sit this one out," Jonah said. He turned to Chase. "Can I have your house key?"

Chase nodded. "Sure." He took it out of his pocket and handed it to him.

"Thanks!" Jonah said.

"Are you sure you don't want to join us? You barely touched your breakfast, and you didn't even get anything when the bus stopped at Burger King for lunch!" Claire said to him.

"I'm fine. Really. I probably just caught a stomach bug or virus from one of the campers," Jonah said. "I'll see you when you get back," Jonah said, holding the key up to Chase. "Thanks!" He then took off. It was only a ten-minute walk from the school (where the bus had dropped them off) to Chase's home.

"I'm worried about him. Did something happen at camp that we don't know about?" Ciara asked as they walked to the pizza place just down the road from the school. "He hasn't seemed himself since last evening."

"I don't think anything happened, but he hasn't been eating. That's so unlike him," Claire said.

He seemed a little down last night. He skipped the s'more's campfire thing. I thought that was unlike him," Chase said.

Joey nodded. "And he's been avoiding Lauren like the plague. It's really weird."

"Maybe he's been bitten by Rochelle, and she really is a vampire!" Theo said.

Claire rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you're still on about that! If she's a vampire, then how can she be out in the daylight? Hm?"

Theo shrugged. "Maybe she is part human so she can still be in daylight."

Ciara rolled her eyes. "Lame."

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Jonah used his key to get into Hope's house. He was sniffling as in his mind, he replayed Lauren's betrayal.

He set the key down and shut the door. He then went into the coat closet and found the lock box. He took it out. He set it on the coffee table then went into the garage. When he found a hammer, he came back out and smashed the lock box's lock. It broke open.

He then took the gun out and held it in his hand. Next, he headed up to Chase's room to see if he could find a piece of paper and a pen.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Chase didn't know why he had bothered coming along for pizza. He wasn't hungry either. Before they even ordered, he decided to just go home. "You know, I'm not feeling very well either suddenly. Maybe something really is going around! I'm just going to head back."

"Are you sure?" Ciara asked.

Chase nodded. "Sorry about that. I'll see you tomorrow or whenever." He then left the pizza place without even saying anything to the rest of his friends.

As he walked home, he kept trying to think back to the last day he remembered his mother being alive. He remembered playing with that shiny object he wasn't supposed to play with. He didn't know how to work it, but he sure had fun trying to figure out how to. His mommy was drinking and not paying attention. She wasn't even in the room. His daddy was working….

Chase thought about it the whole way home, but by the time he got home, he just couldn't clearly picture what he had in his hands.

He opened the door of the house…

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Jonah hadn't known what to write, so he just kept it simple.

 _I'm sorry. Mom, Dad, I love you. Please don't blame yourselves. I'm just not happy in this life. I never have been. Maybe once I'm with Jesus and God I'll be happier. Ciara, Claire, Chase, Theo, and Joey, thank you for being the best friends I ever had. You gave me a chance when no one else would. You deserve a better friend than a big, fat loser like myself. I'm sorry. I love you guys. I hope to see you on the other side one day. Please remember me- Jonah._

Jonah set the note down on Chase's desk, and then he took Hope's gun and held it to his head. He cocked the gun…

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Chase hadn't even had time to close the door when he heard it. It was loud—so loud!

 _Bang!_

The sound vibrated in Chase's ears, and suddenly, the object in his mind became clear to him. It was a gun. He had been playing with a gun! It was Meredith's gun.

He remembered it all then.

 _His mother stormed toward him. "That is a gun!"_

 _Chase was hardly paying attention as he continued trying to see what it did and how it worked. Then he heard a loud boom and saw his mother fall to the floor, the drink in her hand splashing to the ground._

 _She wasn't moving or talking anymore. There was a red liquid all over her and him. He was suddenly frightened, and started to cry._

 _Eventually Aiden came home from work. He looked at Chase, who was still sobbing. "What have you done?"_

Chase remembered it all now. "I killed my mom," he said quietly. He sank down to the floor, placed his arms around his legs, and began rocking back and forth. "I killed my mom."

Just then, Ciara came running into the house. "Chase! I heard a gunshot! What happened?" She noticed the empty gun box on the coffee table. "Is that mom's gun box?"

"I killed my mom. I killed my mom. I killed my mom." Chase kept chanting it over and over as he rocked back and forth, back and forth, staring off into the distance.

"What are you talking about? Chase! Chase snap out of it! Where is mom's gun? Where is Jonah?" Ciara yell-asked.

"I killed my mom." Chase said, looking at her blankly.

Ciara shook her head, and ran up the stairs while Chase went back to chanting and rocking.

She looked through all the rooms, calling out Jonah's name but getting no response.

When she got to Chase's room, she peered in and screamed louder than she had ever screamed before in her life. Jonah lay on the bed, a bloody gash in his temple. Blood was all over the walls and the floor—not to mention all over his clothes. He loosely held Hope's gun in his hand.

Her eyes fell upon his suicide note, and she read it.

Sobbing, she picked up her phone and dialed 911.

 _"911 emergency. What can we assist you with?"_

"It's my friend." Ciara sniffled. "I just found his body. He killed himself!" She then burst into tears as the 911 responder tried to get more information out of her.

She dropped her phone and sank down to the floor, grabbing her knees and sobbing uncontrollably.


	37. S2E13

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **Season 2 Episode 13: Whatever It Takes**_

"What happened?" Kayla asked with concern when Ciara came in with the paramedics, sobbing hysterically.

"My friend. He shot himself with my mom's gun! He tried to kill himself. I thought he had killed himself, but the paramedics say he's still alive, but barely," Ciara answered.

Kayla went straight to work. She quickly looked him over. "We need to get the patient prepped for emergency surgery— _now_. There's so time to waste!" she said to her colleagues.

"Is he going to be all right?" Ciara asked, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

Kayla looked solemn. "I don't know, but I promise you I'm going to try as hard as I can to save that boy's life." She then ran off to prep for the emergency surgery.

Ciara went over to the chairs and sat down, still shaken. She knew she had to call her mom, but before she did that, she had to collect herself.

Suddenly, Theo and Joey came running into the hospital. When they saw her, they walked over to her.

"What happened? Why did Jonah shoot himself?" Theo asked.

Ciara looked up at him, a tear streaming down her face. "He said in his suicide note that he wasn't happy. He said we were the best friends he ever had, and that we deserve a better friend than a big, fat loser like him!" She started sobbing again.

Theo sat down beside her and wrapped an arm tightly around her, tears streaming down his own face.

"Is he going to be all right?" Joey asked, tears welling up in his eyes.

Ciara shrugged. "I don't know." She looked around. "Where's Chase? I told you to bring Chase! He kept saying he killed his mom. I don't know what he was talking about, but he was out of it. He needs to talk to Marlena."

"Claire took him to find Marlena. He is still pretty out of it," Joey said.

Ciara sniffled. "I have to call my mom." She took out her cell phone, then headed to a more private and quieter area to call Hope.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Hope opened her eyes when she heard her phone ringing. She had been sleeping with her head on Aiden's chest. His right arm was around her.

Careful not to wake him up, she gently removed his arm from her, then grabbed her phone and climbed out of bed. She answered it. "Ciara, Honey, hold on just a second," she whispered.

She headed out to the balcony and closed the door. She then answered again. "What is it, Sweetie?"

"Mom?" Ciara said with a tear-filled voice. "Jonah tried to kill himself tonight."

Hope felt her heart sink. "What? How? Tried to? Is he okay?"

"He was home alone. He told Chase his parents weren't going to be home for a bit, so Chase let him have a key to our house to wait there. The rest of us headed out for pizza, but Jonah said he wasn't feeling well and went back to our place to wait for us. Then, about ten minutes later, Chase wasn't feeling well either and decided to go back home too. I was worried about Chase, so I told Claire what to order for me, and then I headed back to check on Chase and Jonah. When I got there, I heard a gunshot. I ran in and asked Chase what happened. Chase was downstairs, completely oblivious. He was on the floor rocking back and forth, chanting over and over that he killed his mother—whatever that means. I saw your broken gun box with the missing gun on the coffee table. I went upstairs to find Jonah since I wasn't getting anything out of Chase. That's when I found Jonah in Chase's bedroom. There was a suicide note and blood everywhere! He was lying on his bed. Oh Mom, it was so horrible!"

Hope sat down on one of the chairs on the balcony. She suddenly felt weak. There was so much to take in at once!

She put a hand to her forehead. "Where's Chase now?"

Ciara sniffled. "Claire took him to Marlena. I haven't heard anything since. It's only been about ten minutes or so."

Hope nodded even though she knew Ciara couldn't see her nod. With Marlena was the best place for Chase to be right now. Now it was time to deal with the Jonah situation. "He used my gun to shoot himself?" she asked wearily.

"Yes. He shot himself in the head! I don't know how he's still alive. It's a miracle. Though for how long he stays alive, nobody knows." Ciara began to sob again.

Hope took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Ciara, Baby, I am so sorry you had to see that Sweetie. Look, maybe it's not as bad as it looks. I always keep that gun filled with blanks. He didn't shoot himself with a real bullet."

"But there was so much blood, Mom!" Ciara cried.

Hope sighed. "I know, Baby, but just because it's a blank, doesn't mean it still can't puncture the skin. It is safer than a bullet, yes. But it can still do some damage from that close of range. That being said, he has a much better chance of surviving than he would if he had been shot with a bullet. All we can do now is pray, and hope that the surgeons can save him."

"Mom, why is Chase saying he killed his mom?" Ciara then asked, a little calmer now.

Hope swallowed hard. "I don't want to get into it right now. Look, it's really late. As soon as morning comes, Aiden and I will change our flight to fly back home first thing in the morning. All right?"

"All right. I'm sorry you have to end your trip early." Ciara sniffled.

"It's not your fault, Baby. Just try not to worry. Call or text me if you get any updates on Jonah's condition," Hope said softly. "I'll call you once I know what flight we'll be taking."

"All right," Ciara agreed.

They hung up their phones.

Aiden opened the door to the balcony then, and placed a hand over her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Hope had tears in her eyes as she looked up at him. "Their friend Jonah shot himself with my gun."

"What? That's horrible! Is he… Is he dead?" Aiden asked with concern.

Hope shook her head. "Not yet anyway. Thankfully it was only loaded with blanks. Still… Those can be just as deadly when shot from close range."

"Ciara needs us. We need to get back," Aiden said.

Hope nodded. "Unfortunately, she's not the only one who needs us."

"What do you mean?" Aiden asked.

Hope sighed. "Chase was there when the gun went off. He remembers everything now. He remembers killing his mother."

Aiden's face went pale, and he sat sank down into the chair next to Hope's. He buried his face in his hands. "What are we going to do?"

Hope got up and hugged him from behind. "All we can do is be there for him. He is with Marlena now, so he is in good hands." She then held out her hand to him. "Come on. Let's get a few more hours of sleep so that we can be alert enough to deal with everything tomorrow morning. I want to get the earliest flight back that we can get."

Aiden nodded. He then took her hand and let her help him up.

They went to bed, both worried about Chase and Jonah.

 _ **~*This love came back to me*~**_

"Would you like me to stay with you?" Claire asked Chase.

Chase shook his head, and didn't say anything.

"I'll be in the waiting room if you need me," Claire said to him. She thanked Marlena, then left.

"Chase, Honey, do you mind telling me what you mean by you killed your mom?" Marlena asked softly.

"I remember…" Chase said sadly. "I remember it all now. I was four. Mom and Dad had both told me not to play with the gun. Mom put it up so I couldn't get to it. I got it anyway."

"Take your time," Marlena said gently as Chase paused, tears welling up in his eyes.

"I found it and was playing with it. I didn't know what it was, and I wanted to find out. My mom saw me playing with it and yelled at me to give it back to her. I ignored her and kept playing with it. Suddenly, I heard a loud bang and looked up. She was lying on the floor in a pull of blood. There was so much blood. I cried, and my dad came home from work and cleaned me up. I don't remember anything else other than my mom was gone, and I never saw her again. I killed her." Chase burst into tears and covered his face with his hands. "My gosh, I killed my own mother!" He looked up at Marlena, tears streaming down his face. "Who does that?"

"Chase, listen to me. You were only four years old. It was an accident! You just thought you were playing with a toy. You cannot blame yourself!" Marlena said to him softly yet firmly.

Chase looked up at her and sniffled. "But I was the one who kept playing with the gun even though she told me not to. I was the one who pulled the trigger. I was the one who killed her. It _is_ all my fault!" He burst into tears again.

Marlena had tears in her eyes as well. She walked around her desk, and over to Chase. She then wrapped him tightly in her arms. "Come here. Go ahead and cry. Let it all out. It's good not to hold it all in."

Chase then collapsed into her arms, and did just that.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Hours later, Ciara and her friends, who had gone to pray for Jonah in the chapel, had just gotten back to the waiting room when Kayla finally came out into the waiting area.

"Is he going to make it, Mom?" Joey asked with tears in his eyes.

Kayla walked over to him and hugged him tightly. "I have good news!" She looked at his friends. "The surgery was a success! We were able to clear out the obstruction from his head. Luckily, it was just a blank. If it were a bullet, I have no doubt in my mind your friend would be dead right now. However, it still did some damage. He had a cerebral hemorrhage and we had to work hard to get the swelling down and stop the bleeding. We were finally able to do both, though barely. I'm telling you though, it's a miracle. Had that blank hit two centimeters to the left, there would have been no saving him—blank or not!"

"Thank you for saving my friend, Mom," Joey said, hugging his mother tightly and not caring if he looked like a child.

Kayla squeezed him tight. "Don't thank me, thank God. Your friend's lucky to be alive. It looks like he'll make a recovery, but it's still too early to tell if the blanks caused any serious damage. We'll all just have to wait, and let time tell."

"Thank you so much!" Ciara said.

"Thank God he's going to be all right!" Theo said with a smile.

"Has anyone called his parents yet?" Kayla asked.

Ciara shook her head. "We don't know his parent's number. We always just called him on his cell."

"I'll have someone look it up. They need to know what is going on with their son. You guys go home and get some sleep. Jonah's going to be out of it for a few hours at _least_. His body needs this time to sleep and recover," Kayla told them. She then walked off to get ahold of Jonah's parents.

"We need to see how Chase is doing. We can't just leave him here," Ciara said.

The others nodded, and headed to Marlena's office.

"Should we knock?" Claire asked. "Maybe we shouldn't interrupt them."

Before anyone could answer her, Marlena opened the door and smiled. "Hey, you guys. Chase is going to be staying over at my place for the night. Ciara, you can too if you'd like. I know going back to where your friend… I just think you'd be better suited at my place."

"Chase can stay with me," Joey offered.

"And Ciara can stay with me," Claire chimed in.

"I want to stay with Marlena. I just need… I need someone I can talk to right now who can help me." It was the first full sentence Ciara had heard Chase say since the incident.

"Do you want me to stay with you?" Ciara asked.

Chase shook his head. "I need some time to clear my head. You can stay with Claire."

Ciara nodded. "All right."

"How's Jonah? Is he…dead?" Chase asked.

"No. Kayla did surgery on him. It was just a blank. He's going to be okay," Claire said.

"Good! I don't need another death on my hands," Chase said dully.

"How could what happened to Jonah possibly be your fault?" Ciara asked him.

Chase blinked at her blankly. "I told him where Mom keeps her gun. I just thought he was curious. I should have known he was going to use it."

"You didn't know," Claire said, placing a hand over his shoulder. "Don't even worry about it."

The others nodded their agreement.

"You guys go home and get some rest. I'm so glad your friend's going to be okay! Thank the Lord for miracles, right?" Marlena asked with a smile.

They all nodded.

They then exchanged goodbyes with Marlena and each other, and headed back to their respective places.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Hope and Aiden arrived back in Salem at nine the next morning. Ciara had texted Hope and told her that Jonah was going to be okay, and that Chase was with Marlena.

Aiden had called Chase, who wanted answers. They had agreed to meet at Marlena's office at ten.

"The officers on duty were kind enough to have the mess cleaned up for us so that we don't have to clean it ourselves," Hope said as they examined Chase's room. "They had to get rid of the bed spread and pillow cases, but they were able to get all the blood off the walls and the floors. It's a good thing we have all hardwood now."

Aiden nodded. "That poor kid, being so unhappy with his life that he felt the need to try to kill himself. He always seemed so happy when I saw him."

Hope nodded. "Me too! My heart just breaks for him. Thank God the shooting didn't take. I'm telling you, from now on that gun remains unloaded."

Aiden gently rubbed her back. "Don't blame yourself. You couldn't possibly had even thought about Jonah using it to try to kill himself."

Hope nodded. "I know. I still feel a little guilty though. My gosh, his parents must be absolutely beside themselves! I can only imagine the pain of getting the phone call that Ciara, Shawn, or Chase had tried to kill themselves. It was horrible enough when I lost Zack. That was an accident. To think of one of my children so down and depressed and unhappy with life that they'd try to take their own life…" Hope teared up. "I'd feel like I failed as a parent!"

Aiden wrapped his arm around her from behind and kissed her right temple. "But it wasn't one of your children, and you haven't failed as a parent. You're the best mother I know, and I couldn't ask for a better second mother to Chase!"

Hope smiled weakly at him and rested the back of her head against his chest. "We tried so hard to stop him from remembering, and it was all for nothing! I bet you the gun shot was what finally triggered the memory."

Aiden kissed the top of her head. He sighed. "Well, at least once we get him through this, we can just relax, and not have to worry about him finding out anymore. He'll already know, and he will heal from it."

"True." Hope turned around to face Aiden. She took his hands in hers. "My heart just aches for him too! He finds out that he is responsible for killing the mother that he loved with all his heart. Then, on top of that, he finds out that his best friend tried to commit suicide. "How is he going to be able to handle all this?"

Aiden gently squeezed her hands. "You know what they say, 'God never gives us anything we can't handle.' We just have to accept that this happened for a reason, and accept that God will get him through this."

Hope nodded. "We'll get him through this too," she said with new determination.

Aiden nodded. "Yes, we'll get him through this too." He sighed, and gently pushed some hair away from Hope's face. "I'm so lucky to have such an amazing, beautiful, loving woman to help me get my son through this."

Hope took his face between her hands. "To help _our_ son get through this," she corrected.

Aiden nodded. "Yes. _Our_ son," he agreed, his eyes lowered with a deep love for her.

They kissed tenderly on the lips, then headed out of the house hand-in-hand to go have their family meeting with Chase and Marlena in Marlena's office knowing that they could get through anything, as long as they got through it together.


	38. S2E14

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **S2E14: I'm Coming After You.**_

Jonah's mother Beverly sat by his bedside tears in her eyes was she waited for her son to wake up. His father was off getting something for her to eat at the cafeteria. He had insisted she eat something even though she wasn't the slightest bit hungry. Who could eat when their son had almost died?

There was a knock on the door. She looked up to see Ciara standing timidly in the doorway.

"May I come in?" Ciara asked.

She smiled weakly at her. "Of course!"

Ciara walked in. "How are you holding up?"

Jonah's mother sighed. "I'm doing as well as I can. On one hand, I'm just happy he survived being shot. On the other hand, I'm worried there could be unforeseen complications. Then there's the fact that he was so sad he tried to kill himself." Her voice wavered. "I feel like I've failed as a mother to my son!" She started to cry then.

Ciara walked over to her and gently placed a hand over her shoulder. "You didn't fail as a mother. None of us saw this coming. You can't blame yourself. If anyone is to blame, it's the thugs in school who bullied him."

"Kids have been bullying my son?" Frank Caldwell asked angrily as he came into the room with his wife's soup.

Ciara looked at him and nodded. "My friends and I stick up for him whenever we see it, but it doesn't stop them. They call him fat and pick on him for what he wears. He never acted like it bothered him, but I guess it did." Ciara looked down to the ground; suddenly ashamed that she hadn't seen how much it had bothered him.

"Why didn't the teachers do anything about it?" Beverly asked as she took the soup from her husband. She set it aside. She had no desire to eat until she was sure her son would be okay.

"The bullies are a popular crowd. They are the typical jocks and cheerleaders." Ciara shrugged. "No one wants to make them pay; otherwise the sports season will suffer."

"Well, I'm going to have a long talk with the head of the school board. Someone's going to pay for what happened to my son!" Frank snapped.

"I can't believe he never came to us about the bullying." Beverly started to cry again. "I really am a horrible mother!"

Frank took her hand and gently rubbed it with his thumb. "You're not a horrible mother. _I'm_ a horrible _father_. I should have spent more time with him. Then maybe I would have known about these bullies, and therefore I could have prevented all this."

"You're not bad parents."

Beverly, Frank, and Ciara all turned to face Jonah, who had spoken for the first time since shooting himself.

"You're awake!" Ciara said.

"Oh, Thank God!" Frank exclaimed.

Beverly started to cry again, only this time they were happy tears. She took her son's hand in her own.

"Don't cry, Momma. I'm sorry for making you cry." Jonah had tears in his own eyes. "I'm one big screw up. I couldn't even kill myself correctly!"

"Don't you say that! Thank God you couldn't kill yourself correctly!" Beverly scolded.

"And you're not a screw up!" Frank added. "Son, why didn't you tell us about the bullying?" He took Jonah's other hand in his own, and held it tightly.

"I was embarrassed. They all hated me because I was fat. I disgust them. I thought Lauren really liked me, but at camp I found out it was all one big set up to embarrass me." He blushed. "I thought she was going to kiss me, but instead she held a water snake up to my lips, knowing how terrified of snakes I am. I screamed and fell into the lake. Her friends showed up and they all laughed at me while she took pictures. She said she is going to show the pictures at school when it starts back up again." Jonah explained. "I was so stupid to ever think a girl like her could fall for me!"

Ciara was so angry right then, she felt as if she could kill someone. "Why didn't you tell us about what Lauren did to you?" she asked.

Jonah looked away. "I was too embarrassed." He then looked at Ciara. "Why didn't I die?"

"Because those weren't real bullets in my mom's gun. They were blanks," Ciara said quietly.

"And because it's not God's plan for you to die. Don't you ever do such a foolish thing like that again! Do you hear me?" Beverly asked him.

Frank nodded. "You scared us both half to death! We love you so much, Son. If we were to ever lose you…" Frank started to get choked up.

Jonah was tearing up again. "I'm sorry. I'll never do it again! I can't do it right anyway."

Frank gently hugged his son the best he could with Jonah being in bed. "We're going to get you help for your depression."

Beverly nodded. "I also think we should home school you. I don't want those bullies anywhere near you."

Jonah didn't say anything.

Kayla came in then and smiled when she saw that Jonah was awake. "Jonah! You're awake! Welcome back to us."

Jonah gave her a weak smile. "Thank you for saving my life."

"I hope you mean that, and are regretting having tried to kill yourself," Kayla said.

Jonah shrugged. "For my parents' sakes, I'm glad I'm alive."

Kayla turned to his parents and to Ciara. "I need to check him over. If you guys wouldn't mind stepping out for just a bit…"

"We'll be back," Frank said to Jonah, gently stroking his son's hair and careful not to bump the bandages.

Beverly kissed his cheek. "You be a good boy and listen to the doctor. I love you."

"I love you too," Jonah said.

"See you soon," Ciara said to Jonah. "I'm so happy you're not dead." She knew it was kind of a lame way of putting it, but she didn't know how else to say it.

The three of them left Jonah's room, and shut the door behind them.

Jonah's mother let Frank convince her to go sit down in the waiting room and eat her soup.

Ciara walked over to her friends.

"I heard he's awake!" What did he say?" Claire asked, standing up from the chair she had been sitting in.

Ciara told them everything Jonah had said—including what Lauren and the bullies had done to him.

"I'm going to kill them. Every single one of them!" Joey said standing up, his fists clenched.

Theo nodded. "I'll help you."

"I wouldn't go as far as killing them, but they have to pay. I agree," Claire said with a nod of her head. "The question is, how?"

"I don't know," Ciara said calmly. "But we'll think of something."

"We're going to make them sorry they ever messed with our friend," Joey said.

Theo nodded. "You can count on it."

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Aiden and Hope sat on Marlena's office couch with Chase between them.

"Chase, is there anything you would like to say to your father and Hope?" Marlena asked calmly.

Chase looked at Hope first. "Did you know what I did?"

Hope hesitated. She looked at Aiden.

"Don't look at him. I asked _you_ ," Chase said; a little annoyed.

"Chase, don't talk to your mother that way," Aiden said calmly.

"She's not my mother!" Chase snapped. "I only had one mother, and I killed her." He looked at Hope. "Did you know I killed my mom, and if so, when did you find out?"

Hope sighed. "I did know. I found out years ago when we all went to the cabin together."

Chase nodded. "I had a feeling you knew. That's why you and Dad tried to stop me from trying to figure out what my flashbacks of mom meant." He looked at Aiden. "How could you not tell me after all these years? How could you let me go on believing that Mom killed herself?"

"I didn't want you to beat yourself up over killing her," Aiden said simply.

"So you thought it would be better if I thought of my mom as suicidal?" Chase asked.

Aiden didn't know what to say.

"Seriously, how could you let me go on thinking that Mom was the cause of her death when all along you knew that it was me? You had me blaming her for her own death when all this time, I was the only one to blame!" Chase snapped.

"Chase, he did what he felt was best for you. He didn't want you feeling bad for no reason," Hope said softly, her hand over his shoulder.

Chase pulled away from her. "For no reason? I killed my mother, Hope! My _real_ mother. I have every reason to feel bad!" He whipped around to look at Aiden. "And you! Didn't you ever love Mom?"

Aiden started to tear up a bit. "You know I did. She and I loved each other so much we had you."

"Then how could you do this to her? How could you let her take the blame for her own murder?" Chase asked, tears in his eyes now.

Aiden looked Chase in the eyes. "I just didn't want you to feel the way you do now. I don't think your mother would either. She loved you so much, and she wouldn't want you to blame yourself for her murderer. After all, you were so young. You didn't know what you were doing. You were just playing."

"Had I just listened, and not played with the gun, then Mom never would have been killed," Chase said.

"Chase, you were only four. That's what four-year-olds do—they ignore their parents." Marlena smiled. "You simply cannot blame yourself for being a typical four-year-old. It was just an accident. It was just a series of misfortunate things. Had your mother not had a gun, or had she not put it where you could see it and get to it, then she wouldn't have gotten shot."

Chase glared at her. "Oh. So now it's my mother's own fault he got shot?"

Marlena stayed calm. "Chase, that isn't what I meant. I meant that you could look it from many different angles where anyone could be to blame. In reality, no one is to blame. No one was to know what was going to happen. It was just a freak accident. That's all you can consider it to be—a freak accident."

"It wasn't a freak accident. I'm to blame." Chase stood up angrily. "Shame on you for suggesting it was my mother's fault." He looked at Aiden. "Shame on _you_ for letting mom take the blame for her death." He turned to Hope, and shame on _you_ for not telling me the truth!" He then left the office, slamming the door behind him.

"Chase, wait!" Aiden said standing up with Hope.

Hope put a hand over his shoulder. "Just give him some time alone to cool off. He's going through a lot right now."

"But he needs us now more than ever!" Aiden said.

"Hope's right. Right now he just needs some time alone to calm down and think things through. He just found out that not only did he accidentally kill his mother, but also, his friend tried to commit suicide. It's a lot for his brain to take in. We need to take this slowly; otherwise he could regress," Marlena said. "We can schedule another session for next week. Right now, let's just give him a little time to start healing on his own."

Aiden reluctantly agreed, and after a moment more of small talk, Hope and Aiden said goodbye to Marlena, then left her office.

Hope held Aiden close. "Don't beat yourself up over any of this. All right? He's just angry right now. He'll come around." She kissed him softly on the lips, and stroked his hair. "I promise you everything will be okay."

Aiden held her close. "I could never get through this without you. You know what right?" He asked as he gently stroked her hair.

She smiled up at him. "Lucky for you, you'll never have to."

They kissed for a moment, then went to go see how Jonah was doing.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Hope felt a little awkward entering Jonah's room. After all, she felt partially responsible for Jonah shooting himself, seeing as it was her gun he had used.

She knocked on the door and entered. "Knock, knock! I just wanted to come in and check on you. I hope that's all right."

Jonah nodded. "Of course it's all right."

"How are you feeling?" Hope asked.

"Like I've just been shot in the head," Jonah joked.

Hope pushed some hair behind her ear and looked away. She then looked at Jonah's parents. "I'm so sorry I had my gun loaded. I thought loading it with blanks and keeping it in a lock box was being safe, but apparently, it wasn't safe enough. I sometimes do shooting practice just to keep up my reflexes on point. I usually unload the gun after, but that time, I didn't."

"It's not your fault," Beverly said with a shake of her head. "You didn't expect anyone to get into it."

Frank nodded. "Were sorry for any inconvenience this caused you."

Hope scrunched her eyebrows. "Inconvenience? No way! I'm just glad Jonah is going to be okay. That is the most important thing."

"I'm sorry I broke your gun box lock. I can pay for another one," Jonah said.

Hope shook her head and pat his blanketed legs. "You can pay me back by getting better!" She smiled at him.

"Do you think that Marlena person could help me?" Jonah asked. "My parents want me to get a psychiatrist, and Ciara says she's the best."

"Of course!" Hope looked at Frank and Beverly. "She's actually in today, so you could stop by her office. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to set up an appointment for you."

Frank nodded a polite nod. "Thank you."

"I'll let you guys have your privacy. I just wanted to make sure you were going to be okay. I'm so happy to see you awake and alive," Hope said to Jonah.

Jonah smiled weakly at her. "Thank you."

Hope exchanged a quick goodbye with Jonah's parents, then left. Aiden was just finishing a work-related call.

Aiden clicked off his phone, and placed an arm around Hope's waist. "Hey. How did it go? Sorry I couldn't go in with you. My secretary thought she lost some important case files when all this time they were right where I told her they'd be. She just had one of her gossip magazines lying on top of it so she hadn't seen it right away."

Hope smirked. "At least she's caught up on all the gossip," she joked. Then, she turned more serious. "He's going to be okay, thank God. I'm also glad his parents don't blame me for Jonah having used my gun."

Aiden was surprised. "Why would they? You had no idea that Jonah was even coming over."

Hope nodded. "I know, but I still feel partially responsible."

"Well, don't! It wasn't your fault," Aiden said simply.

Hope rested her head against his. "I'll stop feeling guilty about my gun being used if you stop feeling guilty for not telling Chase the truth. You did what you felt was best for him. I didn't know Meredith, but I'm sure she would have wanted to you lie to him like you did."

Aiden sighed. "I'll try not to feel guilty but I can't make any promises."

Hope kissed him, and gently stroked his cheek. "That's all I can ask; that you try," she said with a smile.

He smiled too.

"Excuse me, Hope? I need to ask you a couple of questions."

Hope and Aiden looked over at the sound of Roman's voice.

"Hey, Roman, what's up?" Hope asked, pulling away from Aiden and pushing some hair behind her ear.

"I was wondering if you've heard anything from Rafe lately," Roman stated.

Hope shook her head, her eyebrows knitted together. "No, come to think of it, I haven't heard from him in days. Why?"

"He hasn't showed up to work in over a week. First he had texted that he was sick, then he texted that he missed you so much and had to get out of town for a bit. I didn't think much of it at first, but now there are no updates from him. His father and brother are both missing as well now. Adrianna and Gabi are worried sick. Apparently, they had gotten a text from Rafe saying that he bought a house and wanted them to come and see it. Adrianna and Gabi couldn't make it, but Eduardo and Dario went to check it out. They were never heard from again after that, and it's been a couple days after that text was received." Roman explained.

"Did you check out the house?" Hope asked, getting back in to cop mode.

Roman nodded. "I sent a team out, but all that was there was a burned down pile of rubble of what we're guessing, used to be the house. Forensics are looking for clues to see if it was arson. There are literally no neighbors around that could have witnessed anything, so unfortunately, forensics is all we have."

"Do you need any help?" Hope asked. "I just need to go home and get changed, then I can go right to the station."

Roman shook his head. "You have enough on our plate right now."

"Rafe is my friend. If he could be in danger, I need to get to the bottom of it," Hope insisted. "I'll be to the station in a half hour. You can take me down to the house and I'll see if I can help spot anything."

Roman nodded his agreement. "All right. I'll see you at the station in a half hour then." Roman nodded a greeting to Aiden, then left.

"You don't mind, do you?" Hope asked Aiden.

Aiden shook his head. "Not at all. Duty calls. Let's head home. Ciara said Chase wants to stay and visit Jonah. Theo will give them both rides home."

Hope nodded. "All right."

They quickly said goodbye to the kids, then headed home.

Aiden couldn't help but be secretly upset. Hope had chosen him, yes, but still she was worried over Rafe. She was so worried, in fact, that she was dropping everything to go find him.

He sighed. He had to become a police officer more than ever now. He had to prove himself to Hope so that she would know that he was just as worthy of having her as Rafe was.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Chase had just heard what Lauren and crew had done to Jonah to make him try to kill himself. "So what are we going to do to get back at them?" he asked.

"Are you up for revenge?" Joey asked him. "I know you have a lot going on yourself, Dude."

Claire nodded. "Yeah, if you want to sit this one out, no one will be offended. We'll all understand."

Chase shook his head. "No. I'm not going to sit this one out. They almost got my friend killed. Now they're going to have to pay for it. Besides, I could use the distraction."

Ciara smiled. "Glad to have you aboard! We can use all the help we can get. I want to get back at them, and I don't mean meaningless little pranks. These pranks are going to make them regret the day they ever laid eyes on Jonah."

They all grinned.

"Do tell," Theo said.

Ciara motioned them closer to her in a huddle, then she whispered her plan to them.

They all grinned even bigger.

"It's settled then. We'll take our time to perfect our plan, and as soon as school starts back up in a couple of weeks, we strike hard and fast like vipers!" Theo said.

Joey nodded and punched his left fist into his right hand.

Claire nodded and smiled. "And they'll never know what hit them!"

They all grinned wickedly at each other, then headed over to go visit with Jonah.


	39. S2E15

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **Season 2 Episode 15: Tearin' Up My Heart**_

"We found something. You might want to take a look at this," Darren from forensics said to Abe as he observed the crime scene. It was determined that it was indeed arson. Now, judging from the grim look on Darren's face, it was also a murder scene.

Abe walked over to where Darren led him. It was a ghastly scene. There was the charred remains of one victim in a metal chair very much resembling an electric chair only with a slightly different looking headpiece. Next to the chair were two charred bodies on the floor on either side of him in the pugilistic position. All three bodies were beyond recognition.

"This is officially a murder investigation," Abe stated.

"Good Lord, what happened?" Roman asked, coming over with Hope then.

"It looks like three people have been burned to death. Gasoline cans were found around the crime scene and remnants from a match were also found. Judging from the way whomever this is was locked up in this chair, we're definitely looking at a premeditated murder," Abe stated.

"Do we have any identification on the bodies?" Hope asked. Her heart sank and her stomach felt sick. Rafe, his father, and his brother were all missing. Rafe had told his brother and father to show up at this location. Now the house was burnt to the ground, and there were three bodies. She didn't want to panic until she knew for sure, but this most definitely wasn't looking good.

"We're going to pull the dental records of Rafe, his father, and his brother. I don't want you to panic. We don't know for sure it's them. This is just a precaution so we can rule them out," Roman said calmly to her.

Hope swallowed hard. "Or confirm that it's them," she whispered.

Roman put an arm around her and she rested her head against his. Neither of them wanted to think the worse, but both of them knew deep down that things didn't look good.

 _ **~*This love came back to me*~**_

Chase came home an hour after Aiden did.

"Where were you?" Aiden asked.

"It's none of your business," Chase muttered.

"Chase, I know you're angry with me, but it doesn't give me the right to talk to me that way. I'm still your father," Aiden said calmly.

Chase glared at him. "Well you sure didn't act like it!"

"I was just trying to protect you," Aiden said, trying his best to keep his voice calm.

Chase nodded. "Yeah, by making me believe my mom killed herself! You made mom look bad."

Aiden sighed. "I already explained myself. I know you don't believe it, but I did what I thought was best for you. I made a mistake and I'm sorry. I don't know what I can do to make it up to you, or at the very least make you less angry with me."

Chase was quiet for a moment before speaking again. "There is one thing you could do for me."

Aiden was filled with hope. "Name it."

"I want a pet. A cat or a dog, I don't care which. I just want a pet," Chase replied.

"Chase, when Hope and I brought that dog home this past April, you and Ciara promised to take care of it, then you both got too busy for it. We had to give him away. You're lucky we were able to find a family to adopt him," Aiden said skeptically. They had put an ad in the classifieds, and a loving family who lived on a farm had adopted the dog. Their kids were so happy to have a new dog, and the dog was thrilled to have a huge field to run and play in. "How is a pet going to help things anyway?"

"I'll get a cat then. They don't need to be entertained as much. Cats are loners. I promise to take care of it. A cat will be easier to look after. Please, Dad! Ciara's living at Chad's, and you and Hope aren't exactly who I want to talk to right now. Having a pet would comfort me. I'd feel like I had someone to talk to even though he or she can't talk back to me," Chase explained. "Marlana even said on our first session that it would be a good idea to have a pet because sometimes having someone to vent to—even if they don't talk back—can help."

Aiden nodded. "You made your case. Fine. We can get you a cat."

"Tonight. In fact, I want to go get one right now," Chase said, already heading for the door again.

"Now? I should probably talk it over with Hope first," Aiden said.

Chase shrugged. "Go ask her then."

"I can't. She's busy at work," Aiden stated. "Can't this wait until tomorrow?"

Chase shook his head. "I want a cat tonight." He looked at his phone. "The shelter closes in an hour. We better get going."

Aiden sighed. He was desperate to get back on good terms with his son. Also, Chase had been through so much. If he wanted a cat, Aiden really didn't see the harm. "All right. Let's go get one. If getting a cat will make you feel better and forgive me, then let's go get a cat!"

Chase nodded. "It's a start," he said, looking his father in the eyes. He then opened the front door and left the house, leaving the door open for Aiden to follow behind him.

Aiden followed after Chase, a little worried about Chase's comment about this being a start. He couldn't help but wonder… What else was Chase going to demand until he finally forgave him?

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"I feel sick to my stomach!" Hope said as the police department's dentist that worked for them in cases like this arrived on the scene. He had already been faxed the dental records of all three Hernandez men.

He walked over to one of the bodies on the ground and knelt down, examining the teeth of the corpse. He checked over the records. "These match Dario Hernandez," he confirmed.

Hope covered her mouth with her hand, tears running down her cheeks. "Oh no." She didn't want to hear the rest, but she knew she had to. Maybe there was still hope.

The dentist moved on to the second body on the ground. Again, he examined the corpse's teeth, then looked over the dental records. "I can confirm that this is without a doubt Eduardo Hernandez."

Hope started to cry a bit then. She knew that meant the body in the chair had to be Rafe, but she just didn't want to believe it yet. Maybe Rafe got away. Maybe the person in the chair was another victim, or even the killer. Maybe Rafe had locked the killer in there for vengeance for his brother and father.

 _Then why didn't he contact anyone if that were the case?_

She ignored that last thought. Maybe he was hurt somewhere and unable to communicate with them. It would be better than him being dead.

The dentist had finished looking over the third corpse. He looked at Rafe's dental records, and his face became solemn.

"No!" Hope cried. "Please, don't Rafe!"

"I'm sorry," the dentist said, looking down to the ground. "The corpse's teeth are a perfect match for Rafe Hernandez's dental records."

Hope began sobbing then as Roman held her tightly. He let her sob into his chest.

"My dear friend," she cried. "My ex-partner in more ways than one! How can he be dead, Roman? How?"

"I don't know, Hope," Roman said, gently stroking her hair. "But I will tell you this. We will catch the killer."

Just then, Lani came to the crime scene. She jumped out of her squad car. "What is it? What's wrong?" she asked; panicked.

Hope looked at her, tears in her eyes. "It's Rafe. He and his brother and father were brutally murdered. They were burned to death."

"What? Rafe? Not Rafe! Are you sure it's him? Maybe it's not him!" Lani said.

Hope sniffled. "His dental records confirm it."

Lani burst into tears then. She sank down to her knees on the ground. "Not my friend. Not Rafe! Please not Rafe!"

Hope cried harder then, and walked over to her. She sank down on the ground next to her and put an arm around her.

Abe came over then, and sank down next to them. He put his arm around his daughter on the other side.

Lani looked at him. "Oh, Dad! My friend! Who would kill my friend? They killed him in such a horrible way too!" She began sobbing hysterically.

Abe hugged her tightly and stroked her hair. "It's okay, Sweetheart. We'll find his murderer, and when we do, they will pay. I promise you that!"

Lani buried her face in his shoulder. _Don't count on it…_ she thought to herself.

 _ **~*This Love Came Back To Me.*~**_

Chase and Aiden checked in at the shelter, then headed into the cat room. There were four cat rooms. From the looks of it, there were hundreds of cats to choose from.

Aiden wrinkled his nose. It wasn't that he didn't like animals. He did. It was just that, he had never been a cat person. He hated how the litter got all over the floor and never stayed in the box. He hated how cats went in a litter box and you had to scoop their poop and pee every day. He didn't like having clawed up furniture, and he especially didn't like clawed up skin. When he was growing up, his aunts had a couple of cats, and both were nasty little things. It had turned him off from cats. However, he knew not all cats were mean. He had come across a few nice ones in his life. Even so, he preferred that cats be other people's cats; not his. "Are you sure you don't want a dog instead?"

Chase shook his head as he pat a grey tabby cat's head. "No. You're right. They are a lot of work. Cats are easier to manage."

"You don't have to clean the litter box if you get a dog," Aiden reasoned. He shot a warning look to a black cat who was giving him the stink eye.

"But dogs need to be walked daily, and they want more attention. I'm going to be at school and then out with friends. Then of course I'll have my sessions with Marlena. Besides, I'm just not feeling up to giving a dog the attention it deserves." Chase pet a few cats. Some rubbed up against his leg. Some walked right past him as if he were invisible.

Suddenly, a fluffy white cat came over to Chase and put her front paws on his legs as if she wanted him to hold her.

Chase smiled, and picked the cat up. Hey, girl!" He knew she was a girl because the boy cats in the shelter had blue collars while the girls had pink collars. The cat instantly started purring.

Chase kissed her. "Looks like my cat picked me instead of the other way around. I want this one." He kissed her once more. "Want to come home and live with me?" he asked her.

She purred even louder and nuzzled her face against his cheek.

Chase grinned. "I'll take that as a yes." He set her down, then nodded at his father. "Come on. Let's go fill out the paperwork. I'll need you to co-sign since I'm not eighteen yet."

"She looks awfully fluffy. She may shed a lot…" Aiden warned.

"No problem. I'll brush her every day to help get rid of excess hair," Chase said as he left the cat room.

Aiden sighed. If this is what made his son happy, then he was willing to adopt the white fluff ball. Maybe she wouldn't be so bad. He bent down to pet her.

The cat hissed at him and tried to swipe him. Aden just barely got his hand out of the way in time.

"Now that was just uncalled for!" he said to the cat.

The cat growled in retort.

He left the cat room. "Why did it have to be a cat?" he muttered to himself. "Heck. Why did it have to be _that_ cat?" At this point he'd have taken the black cat that was giving him the stink eye earlier.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"I'm going to go bring her up to my room," Chase said, carrying the cat's carrying case up the stairs. "I'll come back down for the litter box, food, and cat bed."

Aiden watched Chase disappear up the stairs with the cat. They had gone shopping after signing all the paperwork. Having a cat was already proving to be expensive. As much as Aiden loved his son, he was almost regretting allowing Chase to get a cat. Surely there had to be some other way to gain his forgiveness!

Just then, Hope arrived home. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she looked solemn. She put her purse and keys down on the stand by the table. She then closed and locked the front door for the night.

"What's wrong?" Aiden asked.

She looked up at him. "It's Rafe. He was murdered. He, his father, and his brother were all burned to death."

Aiden was shocked to say the least. "What?"

Hope nodded. "The house Rafe had supposedly bought was burnt to the ground. The three of them must have been trapped inside. Rafe's body was found locked up in a chair like an electric chair. We're thinking his brother and father got locked down there with him, and then the fire started."

"Are there any leads on who might have done this?" Aiden asked.

Hope shook her head. "So far the only thing we know for sure is that it was arson and murder. Whomever did it made sure to cover all their tracks." She started to tear up again. "I just can't believe Rafe's gone after all we went through together!" She burst into tears again.

Aiden quickly ran over to her and took her in his arms. He gently stroked her hair. "I'm so sorry, Hope. I know how close you two were." Inside, he was feeling a mixture of emotions. He was sad to see Hope in so much pain. He was anxious that she was this hurt over a man she was supposedly no longer in love with. He was even slightly relieved that Rafe would no longer be in the picture. He felt like a monster for thinking the last part, but he couldn't help it.

Hope suddenly saw the litter box and bag of litter over Aiden's shoulder. She stopped crying and sniffled. "Why is there a litter box and cat litter in here?"

Aiden blushed. "Oh. That. Chase said he wanted a pet to talk to and to help take his mind off things. He said that Marlena recommended it. He chose a cat because it needs less attention than a dog."

"Well, you could have asked me first," Hope said, pulling away from Aiden.

Aiden nodded. "I know, and I would have, but you were at work and Chase wanted one tonight. He said he'd try to forgive me if I let him have a cat."

"Well that was stupid," Hope said coldly. "He's just going to keep using you to get things what he wants, saying he'll forgive you if you do this and that for him."

Aiden remembered Chase saying that getting a cat was a start. Maybe Hope was right.

"Anyway, there's nothing to forgive. You only did what you thought was best for him. Chase is going to have to grow up and except that!" Hope snapped.

Aiden was a little surprised. "Give him a break, all right? He just found out he killed his mother, then on top of that, his friend tried to kill himself with Chase in the house!"

Hope sighed. "All right, fine." She looked at Aiden. "But you still had no right to give him permission to have a cat in my house!"

Aiden felt his heart sink a little. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you would be this opposed to it. I figured you wouldn't mind helping out our son."

"He's not my son. He killed his mother; remember?" Hope snapped.

Aiden gasped. "Hope! I can't believe you just said that!"

Hope shrugged. "Why not? He said it himself. I'm not his mother. Now you reward him by bringing a cat into my house without even asking me first." She shook her head and walked away. "That's just great. Just great!"

Aiden was angry now. "Look, Hope, I know you're hurt and angry over what happened to Rafe, and you have every right to be! But what you don't have the right to be is rude to me or our son. Yes, no matter what Chase says, he _does_ consider you his mother. You are the only mother he's ever really known except for those four short years of his life with Meredith. Silly me for thinking you actually considered him a son too! And I apologize. I just figured that since you and I will be getting married that this house was partly mine too!"

Hope's expression looked crushed. "Aiden, I—"

Aiden was too angry to let her finish. He knew he should cut her a break after the news she had just gotten, but a part of him was angry with her for acting like she and Rafe had still been lovers, so he let his anger get the best of him. "Don't worry. Chase and I will move out and we'll take the cat with us. I'm assuming since you don't want us in the house and don't want Chase as your son that you no longer want to get married again. Don't worry. You can still keep the ring!" Aiden then unlocked the door and, ignoring Hope calling his name, he left, slamming the door behind him.

He then got into his car and sped off. He didn't know where he was going. All he knew was that he had to calm down. He knew deep down he was being a jerk, but he wasn't ready to go back to being a nice guy just yet.


	40. S2E16

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **Season 2 Episode 16: Girls Chase Boys**_

Hope felt horrible for arguing with Aiden. She was upset about Rafe and angry with whomever killed him and his family, so she had taken it out on Aiden. She had tried calling him, but he wasn't picking up his phone.

With a sigh, she picked up the litter and box and headed up the stairs to see how Chase was doing, and to see what this cat he got was like. She liked animals. It was just that she liked to keep her house very pristine. The thought of clawed up furniture, cat hair everywhere, and litter all over the floor was not very appealing to her. She also knew that some cats could be temperamental. However, even though she didn't want Chase using blackmail against them in order to forgive them, she did know he was going through something right now. Despite what she had said to Aiden in anger, she really did consider Chase her son, and if this what he needed to start feeling better, then she supposed she could put up with the little fur ball.

"Chase, I got the litter box and litter in my arms. Can you please open your door?" she called out once she was outside his bedroom door.

Chase opened the door. "I heard you and Dad fighting. I know you don't want the cat. Don't worry about it. I'll take her back to the shelter, or see if Ciara will keep her. I don't need you and Dad breaking up because of me. As if I need yet another thing on my conscience."

Hope sighed. She felt badly that Chase had not only overheard them fighting, but that he also blamed himself for the argument. After what she had said to Aiden, she could see how Chase would blame himself. "I may have overreacted. You can keep the cat, if that is what helps you. Please just make sure the litter is swept up if she gets any on the floor. Also, I'll pay for it, but I want you getting Soft Paws for it. I don't want it clawing up the furniture. Finally, if you see any hair on anything, please use a lint roller or whatever you have to use to get it off."

Chase shrugged. "Deal. But I don't want you and dad to fight over it. I know you don't think of me as a son anymore after what I did. It's cool. I get it. But please don't think badly of my dad for having created me."

Hope's heart broke. She felt even more like a monster now. She held out her arms to Chase. "Baby, come here. I didn't mean it when I said I wasn't your mother. I know I may not biologically be your mother, but in my heart you are my son; as if I gave birth to you myself. I honestly don't blame you for what you did when you were four. You loved your mom, and I know you never would have killed her on purpose."

"Do you really mean it?" Chase asked.

Hope nodded. "Of course I do!"

Chase then walked into her open arms and hugged her back. "I didn't mean what I said when I said you weren't my mom. I will always love my real mom, but you're the mom I remember the most. I love that you make my dad so happy, and I love that you're willing to take care of me even though I'm not your blood like Ciara."

Hope held him at arm's length, and looked him in the eyes. "To me, you _are_ blood like Ciara."

Chase smiled weakly. "My dad will never leave you. He loves you far too much. I think you both need to apologize to each other."

Hope shook her head. "I'm the only one who needs to apologize. Your father was right in getting you a cat. I'm just taking out on him what happened to Rafe. He, his brother, and his father were all murdered. They were trapped in a house that was purposely burned down. Rafe was locked in an electric chair like contraption, and matches were found at the scene of the crime, so we know it was murder. We have no leads yet."

Chase gasped. "Oh my gosh! Hope, I'm so sorry! I was never Rafe's biggest fan, but I'd never wish this on him! Come here." He pulled Hope close again.

Hope sniffled against his chest and hugged him tightly.

"A good cop like you will find the killer in no time. I'm sure of it!" Chase said.

Hope smiled weakly at him. "I hope you're right." She then looked over his shoulder. "So, let me see this cat of yours. Have you picked out a name yet?"

Chase walked over to where the cat was cuddled up sleeping on his bed. "Would it be too weird to call her Meredith after my mom?"

Hope smiled, and shook her head. "I think Meredith is a perfect name for her." She began to pet the cat, who woke up and started purring. Meredith stood up and began to walk back and forth underneath her hand. "Aw! She's adorable."

Chase grinned. "I hope Dad eventually warms up to her."

Hope laughed. "That may take some time, but he'll come around."

Chase smiled too.

Hope felt better. Now, if Aiden would get home and they could make up, things would be even better yet. And once she caught Rafe's killer, things would be perfect.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

After an hour and a half of stewing in an out of town coffee shop, Aiden started to feel badly about the fight. He knew he was just being silly getting jealous over Rafe. Regardless of Hope not having been with him anymore, he had still been her friend for years. He was once married to her niece, and he was her partner at work for quite a few years. Also, whether he liked it or not, she had dated him for a year. Just because she was no longer dating him didn't mean she wouldn't still feel sad when he died—especially since it was a murder. His brother and father being murdered with him must have made it even harder for her, Aiden knew. So, he sucked it up and went to the store to get her two of her favorite things—a bouquet of flowers and a box of Godiva chocolates.

He arrived home and headed for the door. He was half worried that Hope had locked him out of the house. Thankfully, she hadn't, and the door was open.

He entered the house, and locked the door behind him.

Suddenly, he heard someone running down the stairs. He looked up to see Hope rushing towards him. "I was worried you weren't going to come back," she said. "I'm so sorry for the things I said. I didn't mean them, I promise! I'm just upset over Rafe's death, and so angry that someone would do this to him and his family. I should have never taken it out on you or Chase. I've apologized to Chase, and he's forgiven me. He had overheard our argument. I hope you can forgive me too."

Aiden handed her the bouquet of pink tulips and red roses, as well as the box of chocolates. "I'm the one who's sorry. I should have asked you before bringing a cat into your house."

Hope took the flowers and candy from him, and sniffed the flowers. "Thank you. My two favorite flowers. I love them." She held up the candy and gently shook the box. "And you know how I feel about chocolate!" she said with a smile.

"I know the pink and red combo looks a little Valentine's Day-ish, but they were the only mix of tulips and roses I saw," Aiden replied.

"They're perfect!" Hope set the vase full of flowers down on the coffee table, and set the chocolates down next to them. She then walked over to him, and gently took his face between her hands. "I want you to know that you can consider this your house too. You were right. We're going to be getting married, so that makes this your place too."

Aiden shook his head. "Well, we're not married yet, and it only has your name on the deed, so technically, it's your house. I really should have waited to ask for your permission. I was just so eager to get Chase to forgive me that I wasn't thinking straight."

Hope placed her hands over his shoulders. "Don't even worry about it. Chase promised to make sure its hair and litter doesn't get all over the place. He also is going to allow me to get Soft Paws put on her, so clawing up the furniture won't be a problem either."

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "She's not a very friendly cat though, is she?"

"I don't know. I think Meredith is quite sweet! She rubbed up against me and purred," Hope said with a smile.

"Well she was an ass to _me_!" Aiden grumbled. "Wait. Did you call her Meredith?"

Hope nodded. "Chase decided he wanted to name her after his mother. Sweet isn't it?"

"I think it's a little creepy myself," Aiden said.

Hope playfully swatted him. "Oh, stop! If it makes him feel closer to his mother, then so be it."

"How are you holding up?" Aiden asked, changing the subject. He pulled her against his chest and gently rubbed her back. He kissed the top of her head. "Are you doing okay?"

"Now that you're here I am." She looked him in the eyes, her eyes welling up with tears. "I thought you were really going to call off our engagement."

Aiden shook his head. He gently stroked the side of her face with his hand. "Baby, no. Never! I was just angry. I know this sounds horrible, but I still get jealous of Rafe. You have every right to grieve over him. It's normal for goodness sake! You were just so upset that I…I got a little insecure."

"After what I said, I don't blame you. But know this, Aiden…" Hope gently stroked his cheek. "If anything were to happen to you like it happened to Rafe, I wouldn't even be able to function right now."

Aiden's eyes lowered with love for her as he gently ran his fingers through her hair. "I feel the same way about you. I love you so much, Hope."

"I love you too. So much more than you know." Hope turned off the lights, then pulled him close. "Let's go to bed. Chase is sleeping. I want to show you how much I love you." She began kissing down the left side of his neck. "Let me love you. Please?"

"As long as I get to love you too," Aiden said.

Hope buried her face in the crook of his neck and softly moaned in response.

He then picked her up and carried her up the stairs as they kissed the whole way to the bedroom.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Hope laid her head on Aiden's chest after their lovemaking, her left arm gently draped over his chest. She felt so content.

Aiden kissed the top of her head. "Fighting like old times, then making up isn't such a bad thing." He grinned at her.

She grinned too. "Especially the making up part. She kissed his chest, her hand resting on his chest as she kissed him. "You know, I've been thinking… Now that we're getting married, why don't we get our own place? I want to live in a home that is not just mine, but both of ours."

"We don't have to move. Honestly, as long as I'm with you, I don't care where I live." Aiden took her hand in his own and kissed it.

"No. I want to have a place that belongs to both of us," Hope insisted.

"You could put my name on the deed so that you can still have your house," Aiden suggested.

"See? There you go again. It would still be 'my house' to you," Hope said. "Even with your name on the deed."

"Sorry. Force of habit." Aiden grinned sheepishly.

Hope laid her head back down on his chest, and he began to gently stroke her hair.

"Remember when we were dancing in the park before…before things went bad for us? We talked about getting a house together with an atrium type room where we could dance under the stars," Hope reminded him.

Aiden nodded. "And it would be just for us."

Hope looked up at him. "Why don't we have a house built like that? We can find a nice piece of property and build our dream house! We can afford it with our combined salaries."

Aiden looked her in the eyes, his heart filling with love for her. "That sounds wonderful, but what about this house? I know how much it means to you. I mean, it was Bo's and your house."

Hope propped herself up on her elbow, and faced him. "It just so happens that Shawn is looking for a new place to live. He wants to get a house because he hates apartment living. I'm sure he would be thrilled to have his father's home."

"Are you really sure about this?" Aiden asked.

Hope nodded. "I'll talk to Shawn about it. If he's willing to hold off on moving for a little while, we can start looking for property and contractors as soon as possible."

"Well, if you're down for it then so am I!" Aiden said.

Hope kissed him forcefully on the lips. "I am definitely down for it. You know what else I'm also definitely down for?" Her voice turned a little seductive at this point. She ran her free hand over his chest.

"Hm?" Aiden asked, stroking her hair again. He had an idea what she was down for. He hoped she was right.

Hope whispered in his ear with a mischievous grin on her face.

He moaned, and pulled her down on top of him.

She giggled, then moaned as his mouth covered hers.

 _ **~*This love came back for me.*~**_

Three days later, Ciara had to work and Joey was out on a date with his newest conquest, Jenna. That left Claire and Theo to visit Jonah. Jonah had gone back home earlier in the day. Claire and Theo had decided to give him a couple hours to settle in. Now, they came bearing gifts.

"Hello, Mr. Caldwell. We're here to see Jonah. I hope that's all right," Claire said politely.

Jonah's father smiled. "Of course it's all right! In fact, I'm glad you're here. Beverly is out getting Jonah all his favorite foods, and I just got a call that there is a work emergency. If you guys don't mind waiting until Beverly returns, which shouldn't be much longer than a half hour, he won't have to be alone."

"Of course we don't mind!" Theo said.

"Great! Thank you. Perfect timing! He's right upstairs in his bedroom. And please, you can call me Frank," Mr. Caldwell said politely.

Claire and Theo smiled politely back.

Frank then left, and Claire and Theo headed up to Jonah's room.

Jonah was sitting in bed with a Lighter Side catalogue when they entered.

"Knock, knock!" Claire said, gently knocking on the door.

Jonah looked up from his magazine and smiled at them. "Hey, Guys. What's up?"

"We just came to see how you were doing," Theo replied.

Jonah shrugged. "As good as I can be I guess." He set the magazine aside.

"Doing some shopping?" Claire asked as she sat down at the foot of his bed.

"I just like seeing all the cool stuff they have in these things," he said, gently patting the magazine that lay beside him.

"These are for you." Claire handed him a teddy bear that was holding a get well soon heart.

Theo then handed him a box of chocolates. "I hope these gifts aren't too cheesy. We just didn't know what else to get you."

Jonah shook his head. "They aren't cheesy at all! They are beary chocolaty," he teased.

Claire and Theo both laughed.

"You're such a dweeb!" Theo said. He then realized what he had just said and shook his head. "I didn't mean that in a mean way. Heck, look at me. I'm still obsessed with video games, and I think vampires exist. I'm the king of dweebs!"

Jonah smiled weakly. "It's okay. I know with you guys you're never being mean."

"So, are you really being home schooled now?" Claire asked.

Jonah shrugged. "I don't know. My mom and dad both think it would be a good idea, but I don't want to not be able to graduate with you guys. I feel like not dying has given me a second chance. I don't want to miss out on anything more in life because of AJ and his gang of thugs."

"Are you sure they can handle it if they start bullying you again?" Theo asked.

"We don't want another incident," Claire added.

"I'll be fine. God must have a plan for me since He stopped me from dying. I'm not going to try to kill myself again. I promise," Jonah said.

"Well, good! We've got your back this time. I promise you," Theo said.

Claire shot him a warning look. Ciara had made them all promise not to let Jonah in on their plan for revenge. They knew Jonah wouldn't approve. He was too nice. They didn't want him getting involved or trying to stop them.

They then chatted with Jonah for a good fifteen minutes more.

Suddenly, the front door opened and closed downstairs. "Jonah, Honey, I'm home! I've got chicken pot pies for dinner—your favorite!" It was Beverly. She was back from grocery shopping.

"Well, we better get going. I promised my mom I'd spend a mother-daughter evening with her," Claire said, getting off the bed.

Theo nodded. "And I'm having a family dinner with my dad and sister."

"All right. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow then," Jonah said.

Claire and Theo said their goodbyes then left, giving a brief greeting to Beverly on their way out.

"You wanna know a secret?" Claire asked Theo as they headed down the street. It was only a ten-minute walk back to their places.

Theo grinned at her. "What?"

"I believe vampires exist too," Claire confessed. "Ciara thinks vampires are mythical so I know she'd just think I'm crazy, and I'm sure Joey would mock me mercilessly, so I don't really make it known to them. It's a relief to have someone else believe in them too."

Theo grinned. "You're not playing me?"

Claire shook her head. "Not at all! I truly believe in them. I mean, not the kind that can't handle sunlight, but I do think there are people out there who survive by only drinking blood."

Theo nodded excitedly. "I a hundred percent agree! Joey thinks it's dumb to believe in vampires because people need food to survive, but babies survive with just milk or formula so why can't adults survive just on blood?"

"Exactly!" Claire said.

They both laughed, and high-fived each other.

"You know, you're even cooler than I thought," Theo said to her.

Ciara smiled. "Thank you! Back at ya." She winked at him.

He grinned, then they continued walking.

"So what do you think about leprechauns?" Theo asked.

"I believe in them, but I also believe they only come out on St. Patrick's Day," Claire said.

Theo nodded. "And they are incognito the other three hundred sixty four days of the year!"

"Three hundred sixty five on a leap year," Claire said.

They both laughed, walking a little bit closer to each other the rest of the way home.


	41. S2E17

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **S2E17: Get Ready**_

Aiden was thrilled to have passed his physical at the doctors. He had gotten a clean bill of health and was to enter into the police academy the very next day. The process had taken a little longer than he had thought. He had also had to be mentally evaluated by Marlena. The police force wanted to ensure that all of their officers were not only physically, but mentally able to handle it was well. Another thing he had had to do was take a polygraph to make sure all the information he had given was true. Finally, he had had to take a drug test for the obvious reasons.

He was excited to finally be going into training to become a police officer. However, for now, all he wanted to concentrate on was all the delicious food he was going to eat at the Labor Day picnic that Hope was hosting in the back yard. They had invited close family and friends.

"I hate apartment living, I really do. I've got to get my own place soon before I go insane," Shawn said to Hope as he sat on a blanket in front of her, eating a hot dog slathered in relish, ketchup and mustard.

Hope handed him a napkin, for his mouth was dripping with condiments. "You're in luck! I have a solution to your problem." She smiled at him.

Shawn raised an eyebrow. "I'm listening."

"Well…" Hope took Aiden's hand in her own. "Aiden and I want to buy some land and build our own place. We've already found a couple nice potential pieces of land. However, I'd hate to see our family house go to some stranger. So, if you're willing to wait until Aiden's and my house is built, then I am willing to sign the deed to this house over to you."

Shawn's eyes lit up. "Really? I've always wanted to own this house, but obviously, I didn't want you to be out of a home."

Hope smiled and nodded. "Really! We'll be deciding upon which piece of property we want to buy soon, and we'll be buying it as soon as we pick."

Aiden nodded. "And after that we'll get right to having our house built. If you can hold out for another six or seven months, it's all yours."

"Are you sure?" Shawn asked, looking at Hope, his eyes wide with excitement.

Hope nodded. "I wouldn't have mentioned it if I weren't!" She grinned.

"Then yes! I absolutely want the house! Thank you!" Shawn said, excitement in his voice.

"Yay!" Hope clapped her hands together. "Now the house can stay in the family."

"I'd hug you, but I don't think you want relish, ketchup, and mustard all over your nice new blouse," Shawn said.

Hope smirked. "Yeah, I'll take a raincheck on that hug." She winked at him.

"There's just one problem," Shawn stated.

Hope raised an eyebrow. "What's what?"

"Who's going to break the news to Ciara that I got the house and not her?"

"Not it!" Aiden said.

"Definitely not it!" Shawn said right after.

Hope rolled her eyes. "I'll tell her. You're older. She can inherit it from _you_ one day. She's not a monster, you know. She'll understand."

Aiden and Shawn looked at each other. "Whatever you say," they both said in unison.

Aiden smirked. "Jinx!"

Hope rolled her eyes, though deep down she knew Ciara _might_ be a little angry. She guessed she'd find out soon enough!

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"Hey, Theo! Where's Ciara?" Claire asked, sitting down next to him on his blanket. She held a paper plate with a cheese burger on it.

Theo swallowed the bit of burger that was in his mouth. "She'll be here shortly. She's just giving Thomas a bath then she'll be right over. I don't get why she has to give Thomas a bath when he has two perfectly good parents that can do that for him."

"Well, she told me that Chad is out of town for a week on a business trip, and Abigail is probably at work." Claire took a bite of her burger. "Mm… JJ is great on the grill! Where are Joey and Chase?"

"They went to Jonah's to see if they could convince his parents to let him come over and join us. They are still a bit over-protective of him. It's understandable of course."

Claire nodded. "And where are your dad and Lani?"

"Lani was too sad that Rafe was murdered. She wasn't in the mood come. Dad says he might be able to make it out for an hour, but right now he is at work," Theo explained.

"I'm sorry your sister is so sad," Claire replied.

"She was a mess at the funeral. Dad and I were there for her," Theo stated.

Claire nodded. "Yeah, I saw." She nodded over toward Hope and Aiden's blanket where Aiden was feeding Hope a hot dog. Hope smiled and him and murmured something into his ear that caused him to blush, then smile, revealing his dimples.

Claire sighed. "And Aiden was there for Hope too. She never left his arms except when she got up to speak in memory of Rafe. Even then, he came up on stage and helped her back to her seat. I hope I find love like that one day."

"Oh, you will. I'm sure you will," Theo said to her.

Claire looked at him and pushed some hair behind her ears. "How do you know?"

"Because you're way too beautiful to not find love," Theo said.

Claire blushed. "Thank you. You're pretty handsome yourself!"

Theo grinned. "I know."

Claire laughed. "We need to work on your modesty."

Theo grinned at her, burger showing up in his teeth, for his mouth was full.

"And your manners," Claire added.

"Theo laughed, causing burger to fly out of his mouth and hit the back of JJ's neck.

JJ rubbed the back of his neck and looked around.

Theo and Claire quickly looked the other way, snickering.

"Oops!" Theo said.

"The look on his face was priceless!" Claire said, laughing harder now.

"Hey. What's so funny?" Ciara asked with a smile as she strolled a sleeping Thomas over to them.

"I accidentally spit burger on the back of JJ's neck!" Theo said, though not loud enough for JJ to hear.

Ciara made a face. "Gross!"

"Can I get you a hot dog or anything?" Theo asked.

Ciara nodded. "Sure. Thant would be great, thank you. You know how I like it."

Theo grinned. "Ketchup and mustard with no relish?"

Ciara nodded. "You got it!" She smiled sweetly at him.

Theo blew her a kiss then left, and Ciara plopped herself down next to Claire on the blanket. "So, are you looking forward to starting school tomorrow? Senior year!"

Claire shrugged. "I suppose so. I'm just so ready to be done with school. You know?"

Ciara nodded. "Me too." Her eyes grew dark, and she lowered her voice. She glanced around to make sure no one else was listening. "But we have some unfinished business to attend to. A little revenge for a friend."

Claire nodded. "I haven't forgotten. We'll make them pay for what they did to Jonah. Don't worry."

Theo came back over with Ciara's burger.

Ciara thanked him and kissed his cheek. She pat the seat beside her, and then she and Theo proceeded to get flirty with each other.

"I'll see you guys later." Claire got up and walked away. She didn't know why, but suddenly the sight of Ciara and Theo being all cutesy together was making her feel uncomfortable.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"Are you excited for the police academy tomorrow?" Hope asked Aiden as they rested against each other on their own private blanket now that Shawn had gone off to mingle. They had their arms around each other.

Aiden nodded. "I am. I can hardly wait to become a police officer! I want to help make this world a better place for you to live in."

Hope kissed his cheek. "Romance and saying sweet things is something you never lack in." She grinned.

Aiden looked her in the eyes. "What can I say? When I am lucky enough to land a beautiful, intelligent, kind-hearted, amazing woman like you, I can't help but feel and be romantic and sweet. You're all my wishes and dreams rolled into one."

Hope took his face between her hands. "Once all our guests are gone, I'm going to help you prepare for the physical endurance test tomorrow," she purred into his ear. She gently licked his ear, then made a trail of kisses down the side of his neck.

He moaned and tangled his fingers in her hair. "I think that is a fantastic idea."

She grinned at him. "I bet you do."

He grinned too.

"Will you two stop being so cute?" Kayla asked, coming over to sit down in front of them.

Hope and Aiden both grinned, and greeted her.

"Where's Steve?" Hope asked.

"He's having a contest with JJ on who can grill the best burger." Kayla rolled her eyes. "Men and their macho contests!" She then smiled brightly and nodded behind them. "I see Joey and Chase managed to convince Jonah to come out."

Hope and Aiden looked over their shoulders and smiled too when they saw Jonah looking happy, and following his friends over to get a burger.

"God really saved him. He doesn't seem to have any lingering internal damage done after shooting himself. It really is a miracle," Kayla said.

"You had something to do with it too. You're a fantastic doctor!" Aiden said to her.

Kayla smiled weakly. "Thanks."

Aiden felt his heart sink a little. He could tell that Kayla still didn't completely trust or like him. He guessed becoming a cop could be useful in not only showing Hope that he could be counted on, but all of Salem too. He'd show them he could be just as much of a hero as Bo and Rafe were. He'd show them all.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

The next day, Aiden had his first day of training. He was about to perform the physical endurance tests that all recruits were required to pass before moving onto the next part of the training. He was glad no one he knew was running the program. He knew Roman still had it out for him and wanted him to fail. Abe was an okay guy, but he wasn't any more cordial than he had to be when it came to him.

"All right!" Detective Mark Davis said as he began to conduct the test. "As you all know, we're here today to test your physical endurance. You have to be fit in order to survive being a cop. Throughout the course of your career you will be doing a lot of physical exertion whether it be chasing after the perpetrator, or lifting unconscious victims and carrying them to safety. Our first test today is to see how many trips you can make up and down these stairs." He motioned to the stairs in front of them.

Aiden looked at the stairs. They were currently at Salem Stadium where all the minor league baseball games were played when the Salem Sluggers had a home game. The stairs were steep. There had to be a good one hundred stairs per section. He hoped they didn't have to run up every section's stairs. He'd surely die.

"I want you to get into a single file line. You are going to take turns. When it's your turn, you will run up and down the stairs until you can no longer run. I will count how many trips up and down you make, and that will be your score for this round of the tests," Detective Davis stated. "Are the instructions clear to everyone?"

Everyone nodded. It was a fairly small class. There were only four other rookies besides Aiden in the class. Aiden was third in line.

Detective Davis blew his whistle, and Monica, the first rookie, ran up and down the stairs like it was nothing. She made it three times up and three times down before she got tired and they moved on to the next rookie, Matt.

Seeing Monica run the stairs three times so effortlessly gave him hope. Maybe the stairs weren't as tiring as they looked, he thought.

Matt had been able to go up the stairs four times, but the fourth time down, he had to walk down instead of run down.

Aiden was next. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. _You can do this,_ he thought to himself.

The whistle blew and he was off. _I can do this, I can do this…_ He kept chanting the mantra in his head over and over. _Okay, this is getting a little tiring. I must be almost to the top at least._

He looked up and his heart sank as he realized he wasn't even halfway up the stairs yet! He pushed himself though. There was no way in heck he was going to stop before getting all the way up and back down at least once! However, by the time he got to the top, his calves felt as if they were on fire, and he feared his lungs were about to explode. He bent over, breathing heavily. He wondered if this is what a heart attack felt like.

The whistle blew again. "Come on, Jennings! Don't wimp out on us already!" Detective Mark yelled up to him.

Aiden saw the other rookies laughing down below.

With new determination, he began his decent back down the stairs. He pictured Hope's smiling face waiting for him at the bottom, her arms wide open to him. It was the only thing pushing him through the pain.

He ran and ran, feeling as if he was going to die at any moment. Then, just as he was almost finished, he ended up tripping over the last stair and falling flat on his face.

The rookies, and even Detective Davis all burst into laughter.

Aiden knew he should get up, but he was too exhausted to even move just a big toe—not to mention he was paralyzed with both embarrassment and shame.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"I'm going to kill them," Ciara said, narrowing her eyes at the posters on the school walls.

There were giant blown up posters of Jonah with a horrified look on his face as Lauren held the snake right up to his face. The posters read: _Snake vs. Whale._

Ciara began tearing down the posters.

"It's a good thing Jonah hasn't convinced his mother to let him go back to school yet," Claire said with a sigh as she helped Ciara take down the posters.

"Oh, ladies! Thank you for helping me take these down," Principal McIntosh, their new principal said as she met up with them. She had a handful of wrinkled and torn posters in her arms.

"Can't you expel them for this? You know it's AJ and his crew that put these up," Ciara said to her.

Principal McIntosh shook her head. "I'm sorry, but there is no proof it was them. These were here when I arrived this morning, and no one saw who put them up."

"Well, Lauren is in the picture. Can't you at least punish her?" Claire asked.

Principal McIntosh shook her head. "I'm sorry, but no. It's still not proof that she is the one who put it up." She tore one more poster down. "I think this is the last of them. Thanks again for your help." She ditched the posters I the trash, then headed into her office.

"We heard what happened, when do we take down those scumbags?" Chase asked, coming up to them with Theo and Joey.

"We start as soon as Joey gets the goods. Let's take down Lauren down first. That smug little witch deserves it the most," Ciara said.

"At first I thought your ideas were going too far, but now I say, let's go for it!" Claire said.

Ciara raised an eyebrow and looked at her friends. "Are you _all_ in? We could really get in deep trouble for this is anyone were to get proof it was us. Legally even."

Joey shook his head. "No one is going to know it was us. Believe me, I'm good at covering my tracks. I'll have it for you by tomorrow."

"I'm going to the mall tonight. I can get the other things we need there," Claire piped in.

"Good! I'd go with you, but I have to work tonight," Ciara said.

Claire shrugged. "No problem. I'm good on my own."

"Chase and I will take care of the final step. Do you have your share of the money?" Theo asked.

Ciara nodded. "We'll do the exchange when we're off the school's premises after school. We can't risk being seen."

They all nodded their agreement.

"If anyone wants to bail out, I'll understand since this could get us in trouble. But speak now or forever hold your peace. There's no turning back after this," Ciara said.

No one said a word.

"Very well then. We'll meet after school and head to the park to make the exchange. Then, we commence tomorrow," Ciara said.

They all nodded, then the warning bell rang, and they headed off to class.


	42. S2E18

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **S2E18: What Goes Around…Comes Around.**_

"We definitely need to work on the stairs with you. That was pathetic," Detective Davis said to Aiden as they moved onto the next task of the day.

"I'll do better this time around," Aiden promised. He was angry with himself. He had been so caught up in studying for the law part of the test that he hadn't even bothered trying to work out and get in shape for the physical endurance part of the test. Hope had been busy so working on the Hernandez murder case, so he hadn't wanted to bother her. Now he wished he had asked for her help, or at the very lease gotten a physical trainer. He hadn't had much time, but he didn't want to have to wait for the next class. If he didn't try to join the police academy now, he'd have to wait another six months before they had another class. That wasn't an option to him. He needed to show Hope sooner than later that he could be someone she would consider a hero.

Detective Davis turned his attention back to the class. "For this test, you will be racing across the field to see who can drag their fifty-pound weight across the field the fastest. I will be taking note on who can pull their own weight and who can't." He smirked. "See what I did there?"

A few of the recruits laughed, but Aiden wasn't in the mood for corny jokes.

Detective Davis handed each recruit a three-foot chain that had a fifty pound wait attached to it. Everyone had their own chain and weight. "I want you to all lined up side-by-side. When I blow my whistle, I want you to race to the end of the field and back. Those who get back sooner will have higher scores. Those who get back last, well, your scores won't be so good."

All the recruits got in line. Aiden was worried. He was still exhausted from the stairs. His heart had just dropped when he found out they had to not only run across the field one way, but both ways! He had thought they'd only have to run to one side of the field and that would be it! He wasn't going to do well on this, and he knew it.

Detective Davis blew his whistle, and they were off!

Aiden started off all right. He was passing two recruits already. However, by the time he got halfway across the field, they quickly began to catch up with him. It wasn't long after that that he began to drag behind.

He had to stop for just a moment to catch his breath once he had made it across. Then, he took off to make his trip back. His heart was pounding again and his calves felt as if they were on fire! He could hardly breathe. He wasn't even halfway back before he simply could not go on any further. He dropped to the ground and lay down on his back, gasping for air. Every muscle in his body ached. There was no way he could do his. He would simply have to train for the next six months, then try again.

After a couple of minutes, he finally managed to get back up and drag his weight back to Detective Davis and the rest of the recruits. "I'll see you in six months," he said.

Detective Davis nodded. "I'll tell you what. You did so well on the non-physical aspects of your test that I'm going to pull some strings for you. Why don't you take the next month and a half to train? I have extra time on my hands since I'm technically retired and just doing this class to help out. If you're willing to train hard, I'll get the force to let you retake the test in October instead of having to wait until March. Sound good?"

Aiden smiled, feeling hopeful for the first time since these dumb tests began. "That sounds fantastic! I promise I will work hard and not let you down."

Detective Davis nodded. "I'll keep in touch. We can work out a schedule that fits the both of us. I have your cell phone on record. I will give you a call tomorrow."

Aiden shook his hand. "Thank you, Detective Davis. I can't express how much this means to me."

"You can thank me with your hard work and by not wasting my time," Detective Davis said, nodding as he shook his hand.

"You can count on me to both work hard and not to waste your time!" Aiden promised.

"Good. I'm going to hold you to that. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Detective Davis then led the class over to their next test.

Grinning, Aiden headed home. He needed a warm soak in the tub (even though he usually wasn't a bath person) to soothe his aching muscles, followed by a long nap.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Hope came into the bedroom after work and smiled when she saw Aiden sleeping peacefully. She climbed into bed next to him and wrapped her arms around him from behind. She kissed his neck. She had showed up at training to surprise him and had been confused to not see Aiden training with the rest of the class. Detective Davis had quickly filled her in on what had happened.

Aiden slowly stirred. "You're home," he said drowsily.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you," Hope said gently.

He opened his eyes and turned to her. "Never apologize for allowing me to wake up to such a beautiful vision." He kissed her softly on the lips.

She gently stroked some hair out of his eyes. It was getting on the longer side again and she loved it. "I heard what happened today. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's not your fault. I'm the idiot who didn't even think to get in good shape before trying out." Aiden looked away. "I feel like such a loser."

"Hey!" She gently moved his face toward hers so that he was forced to look her in the eyes. "You are _not_ a loser, Mr. Jennings, and you never will be." She kissed him again and held him close. "I feel like it _is_ my fault. I'm not only a cop who has been through the training before, but I'm also your fiancé. I should have been there for you, and helped you train."

"You have a lot on your plate. I couldn't expect you to help me," Aiden said to her.

Hope shook her head. "You and the kids always need to come first."

Aiden gently stroked her cheek. "Baby, you ex-partner and good friend died, as did his brother and father. They were murdered! It's totally understandable for your mind to be elsewhere right now. Anyway, Detective Davis is going to help me train. I'm not giving up."

"Good for you! I'm so proud of you." Hope kissed him on the lips. "Do you want to go out for dinner? Chase is out with his friends." Her voice had a seductive tone to it.

Aiden licked his lips, his hands on her hips. "Why don't we have a little dessert first?" he purred into her ear.

She smirked, and raising an eyebrow, pushed some hair behind her other ear. "I had a feeling you were going to suggest that."

He raised an eyebrow as well. "Do you have a problem with that?" he teased.

She licked her lips and shook her head, her eyes filled with desire for him. "Not one."

She kissed him passionately on the lips, and then moaned as he eagerly pinned her down beneath him.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

The next day at school, the teens were ready to put their plan into action. It was lunchtime, and Joey was the first one up to put the plan into motion.

They were in the cafeteria. Lauren was carrying her lunch tray.

Joey walked by her and purposely bumped into her hard from behind; having pretended to trip.

Her tray fell out of her hands and went crashing to the floor.

She cried out in anger and whipped around to face Joey, her hands balled into fists at her side. "You stupid klutz!"

Joey held up his hands. "I'm sorry! I'll buy you a new lunch."

"You're darn right you'll by me a new lunch! What the hell is wrong with you? Why don't you watch where you are going?" she snapped.

"Just chill out! I'll go buy you a new one. It's no big deal!" Joey said, holding his hands up to her.

He then went to get her a new lunch while the janitor cleaned up the cafeteria mess.

After purchasing her new meal, Joey brought her food to the table. "I'll be right back with your diet Coke." All sodas were sold in soda machines instead of the cafeteria.

"Make it quick!" Lauren snapped.

Joey turned and left for the hallway. He rolled his eyes. "Stupid bitch deserves everything about to come to her," he grumbled.

Thankfully, the hallway was clear, as it usually was. Everyone was either at lunch, or in class if their lunch period was at a different time.

Joey got the coke out of the machine, then headed to the bathroom, and went into a stall. He locked the door, then took out the syringe from is pocket that was filled with Ipecac. He poked it in the bottle right below the cap so that Lauren wouldn't notice any soda spilling out of it when she drank. He shook the bottle to mix the Ipecac, then put the syringe back in his pocket. He would dispose of it later.

Next, he left the bathroom and headed over to give Lauren her soda.

Lauren grabbed it roughly from him. "It's about time! What took you so long?" she snapped.

"There was a line," Joey lied.

Lauren rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She opened the bottle and drank down a long swig of soda.

Joey headed back to his lunch table and snickered with his friends. "Part one, complete," he said.

The five teens grinned, and kept their eyes on Lauren, waiting for it to be time for part two.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

It took no longer than ten minutes for Lauren to get up to rush to the bathroom. However, she didn't make it and ended up puking all over the floor.

"Gross!" AJ said moving his chair back.

"What's wrong?" Jake asked. "You were fine this morning!"

"I don't know. I just suddenly feel so—" Lauren didn't get the sentence out before she threw up again.

"Let's get you to the nurse," Becca said, grabbing onto Lauren, but making sure she stood behind her as they walked, so as not to get caught in the line of fire.

"That is so gnarly!" Jason said.

"Dude, she's your girlfriend. Aren't you going to go see if she's all right?" Jake asked.

Jason rolled his eyes. "Like I'm going to risk catching what she has and getting sick when I need to be practicing for basketball season."

"Dude, that's cold," Jake said.

"Whatever, Man. It's being smart!" Jason said.

AJ nodded. "I agree with Jason. We need him on the team."

Ciara rolled her eyes. "Lauren is a total bitch, but those guys are still jerks."

The bell rang, signaling they had five minutes to get to their next class. The janitor came back in, looking disgruntled as he began to clean up Lauren's mess.

"It's your turn now." Joey raised an eyebrow at the girls. "Are you up for it?"

" _So_ up for it," Claire said. "The witch is going down."

Claire and Ciara had an hour-long study hall next. No one would miss them. So as the boys went to their shop class, the girls headed out of school, careful not to be seen, and went straight to Lauren's house. Claire had her own car now therefore making it easy for them to get there.

They parked at the playground that was only a few minutes away from Lauren's house, then walked to Lauren's house and hid behind the bushes on the side of her house.

The evening before, they had looked up Lauren's address on the student directory. Then they had then driven by her house to get a layout of the land. They had planned everything out together from the start of the revenge plan to the end.

Ciara and Claire had to wait a good twenty minutes, but finally Becca pulled into Lauren's driveway. Ciara had played detective. One of the advantages of having parents for cops was that she knew her way around a computer when it came to finding out needed information. She had done some research and found out that Lauren's father was a podiatrist and worked during the day. Her mother worked in advertising and also worked during the day. This would leave the house empty except for Lauren, who was now coming home sick. It would also give them the opportunity of an unlocked door.

They watched from the bushes as Becca went to the other side of the car and helped Lauren out. Then, Becca walked Lauren to her house.

Lauren weakly used her key to get into the house, then quickly ran into the house. Ciara and Claire guessed it was to puke some more.

Becca followed close behind her to help her.

After a minute of waiting, Ciara and Claire sneaked to the front door.

Claire peered into the window. "I don't see them," she said quietly.

Ciara quietly and slowly opened the front door. She peered around. It had opened into a foyer. There was a living room to the right, and a kitchen behind the stairs at the end of the foyer. There was another hallway leading from the left of the kitchen that was invisible from Ciara's point of view.

They heard puking upstairs.

Ciara motioned Claire in, and once they were both fully in the house, Ciara quietly shut the door behind them.

They then sneaked into the kitchen. This was the part where they were taking a risk. They were counting on Becca getting Lauren a drink. They had specifically bought some ginger ale, hoping that Becca would pick that, knowing that ginger ale was good for an ailing stomach.

They had already mixed a strong sleeping medication into the bottle. They slipped the bottle into the fridge, then shut the door. Now all they had to do was hide, and wait for Becca to take the bait.

 _ **~*This love came back to me*~**_

They hid in the storage closet in the foyer and listened for Becca or Lauren to come down.

"I'm going to go get you something to drink. You just stay lying down and puke into the trash bin I gave you!" Becca said to Lauren as she headed down the stairs.

Ciara and Claire looked at each other, though, in the darkness they couldn't see the other's grin.

They had left the closet open just a crack. They heard Becca opening the fridge in the kitchen.

"Ginger ale. Perfect!" they heard her say.

Both girls smirked. _Bingo_.

They listened as Becca poured the soda into a glass.

Becca then headed up the stairs.

They stayed in the closet for what felt like an eternity. Finally, Becca came back down the stairs and left. They waited a few moments to make sure she was really gone. Then they left the closet.

Claire peered out the window. "Her car is gone," she confirmed.

"Let's go. Proceed with caution," Ciara ordered.

Claire nodded, and they both sneaked quietly up the stairs.

They saw a bedroom at the end of the hall and knew it was Lauren's because the door was open and they could see her lying on her bed. Her eyes were closed.

They stayed against the wall, and peered in from the side, careful not to be seen.

"I think she's asleep," Claire whispered.

Ciara nervily stepped forward. "Lauren?" she asked softly. "Are you awake? I just came to check on you."

There was no answer. Ciara looked over to the nightstand beside Lauren's bed. There was an empty glass there.

She smiled at Claire. "She drank it. Let's get to this; and fast."

Claire nodded. She then took out the Veet hair remover from the paper bag she had brought with them.

Ciara took out the scissors.

Ciara spent the next couple of minutes cutting Lauren's long hair as short as she could.

"I kept worrying she is going to wake up and bust us," Claire said.

Ciara shook her head. "Joey assured us that is the strongest sleeping pill on the market. And before you ask, yes, it's safe. One pill isn't going to kill her."

Claire nodded. "All right." She then got to work at slathering the hair remover all over Lauren's scalp. She was generous with it. She used the whole bottle, and covered the scalp as if she were using shampoo.

When they were done, they waited the maximum ten minutes, then they washed it off with a huge towel, a bowl of water, and shampoo, all of which they had found in Lauren's personal bathroom.

They grinned once they finished the job. It had taken them ten minutes to wash it off, but now, Lauren was as bald as the day she was born.

Claire took the camera out of the bag. It was a great quality camera that she still had from when she was fourteen and had wanted to be a photographer. The camera had been a Christmas present to her from her parents along with six months' worth of photography lessons. The gifts were finally paying off.

"Wait!" Ciara said before Claire could take the picture.

"What?" Claire asked, looking confused.

Ciara walked over to Lauren and pried her eyes open. She then squeezed her cheeks causing Lauren's mouth to pop open as well. Ciara smirked at Claire. "Now she's photo ready."

"You are so lucky she didn't wake up when you did that!" Claire said, snapping a few pics.

Ciara rolled her eyes. "I told you, it's the strongest pill on the market. She'll be out for a while. Now let's clean up our mess and get out of here."

They quickly went to work. They were both wearing gloves, so they didn't have to worry about any fingerprints being found. Even so, they didn't want to leave a mess. They put the camera, empty Veet bottle, scissors, and empty soda bottle back in the bag. They put the towel in the hamper, and the shampoo back in the shower shelf. They emptied the excess water in the sink, then put the bowl back where they had found it.

They left Lauren's hair on the floor. They wished they could stay to see the look on her face when she woke up and found it, but they couldn't.

After one last check of the house to make sure they didn't leave any incriminating evidence behind, they left. They'd have just enough time to get to their English class that was after the study hall they skipped. After school, they'd give the film to Joey and Theo, and they would take care of the final part of the plan. Then finally, justice would be served for Lauren. After that, it would be time to get revenge on the other four. But for now, they were taking it one thug at a time.


	43. S2E19

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **Season 2 Episode 19: What a Girl Wants**_

The next day, Lauren wasn't at school. Ciara and the gang knew why. She was too embarrassed to come to school. It was all right though. Pretty soon, the whole school would know what happened.

"We paid for it last night and gave the company the picture. They said it will be up in two weeks," Theo told Ciara and Claire over lunch.

"Why so long?" Claire whined. "That's just the normal wait time to get it done," Joey said with a shrug.

"Ugh!" Ciara complained, "I hate having to wait that long!"

"Don't worry. We still have four other victims to attend to while we wait," Chase said with a wicked smirk on his face.

Ciara smirked too. "True."

"I say we take care of Jason next. The smug son of a bitch thinks he's hot stuff on the court. If we take away basketball from him, he won't be such hot stuff!" Joey suggested.

"I've only thought of what to do to Lauren. Do you have something in mind?" Ciara asked an eyebrow raised.

Joey nodded. "As a matter of fact, I do." He motioned them closer, and they all leaned in over the table to talk about it. He lowered his voice. "I'm friends with Davis Myers who is also on the basketball team. He told me some stuff that now, I think could be to our advantage. Basketball practice ends at five. The coach leaves right after practice because he needs to relieve the babysitter. His wife works late. Only the basketball team is around after practice, and Jason is always the last to leave. He insists on showering alone in the shower room. Despite him being a cocky jerk, he has a major phobia of other guys seeing his naked body."

"Are you suggesting we video tape him somehow and display it to the video to the whole school during our next assembly?" Claire grinned. "Because I know where we can get a discreet camera."

Ciara looked at her, and eyebrow raised. "And here I thought you were the innocent one."

Claire shrugged. "I can be bad when I want to be."

Joey laughed. "Miss. Goody Two-Shoes? Yeah right! Great idea, but no."

"I like the way you think Claire, but filming a minor naked is a big no-no," Theo said.

Joey rolled his eyes. "Can I please finish?"

"Sorry." Theo motioned for him to continue.

"There are only ways out of the school from the locker and shower rooms. One is the back door that leads down a staircase that takes you out onto the soccer field. The other door is the way all the basketball players go, which is down the front staircase that leads into the hallway that holds the coat racks and non-gym lockers as well as to the front door. I say we put a trip wire at the top of that staircase. He'll fall down the stairs and more than likely get hurt. After all, it's ten stairs with nothing but a hard floor to land on. If he hurts himself, then no more basketball—at least no more practices for a couple months, which can be detrimental to him playing." Joey sat back and crossed his arms over his chest, smirking with pride over his idea.

"Well, we don't want to kill him," Claire said.

"Please! Ten stairs is not going to kill him. It will just non-seriously injure him," Joey said simply.

"Anyway, remember how much they tormented Jonah? Jonah was almost killed because of the emotional torment they put on him!" Chase reminded her. "Marlena has been taking to me about how not being right in the mind can really mess a person up."

Ciara shrugged. "I'm down for it. As far as I'm concerned, those jerks deserve everything they get!"

"I'm in if Claire is okay with it," Theo said, looking at Claire.

Claire sighed. "You know what? Let's do it. You're right. Ten stairs isn't going to kill him. He almost took away Jonah's life so to speak. He should consider himself lucky to only lose his chance at playing basketball this season."

Joey grinned. "We strike this evening. I'll get the supplies after school."

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Detective Davis had kept his promise and called Aiden earlier that morning. He made a schedule with Aiden to train with him every day from three PM to four PM. However, he had other things he had to get done first and wouldn't be able to start until three days from then. However, Hope had offered to start Aiden off so that he would at least have some work put in before working with Detective Davis.

"I don't know if I've ever seen you in sneakers before! Actually, I don't know if I've ever seen you in workout clothes," Hope said as she eyed up Aiden's navy blue short-sleeved shirt that looked like the same material a basketball or football jersey was made out of. For pants, he was wearing black windbreaker pants. "It's kind of sexy actually." She pulled him close to her body and pushed some hair out of her eyes. "I'm so used to seeing you all prim and proper." She brushed her lips up against his ear, "Except when you're naked in bed with me of course."

He moaned. "Which I'd like to be now. What do you say we cancel this run and wait until tomorrow?"

She smirked, and pat his chest. "Nice try! You know the old saying. "Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today."

He groaned. "All right, all right."

They then headed out and began their jog.

"We'll start off slow and go around the block and back," Hope said.

Aiden began jogging with her. "I thought you said we were starting off slow!" She was already a yard ahead of him.

She looked over her shoulder at him. "I _am_ going slowly. Come on. We've just begun! Surely you can catch up with me."

Aiden pushed himself to run, and fell in beside her.

"See? I told you you could do it!" Hope said with a smile.

They jogged together in silence for a moment, and Aiden was proud of himself for being able to keep up with her.

"Let's increase the pace," she said after a moment. She jogged on ahead of him, and he did his best to keep up with her. Still, he was lagging a good couple of yards behind her.

She looked over her shoulder, then stopped to wait for him to catch up to her once she saw that he was lagging behind.

"I'm sorry…." He bent down and rested his hands on his thighs. "My muscles are…already aching…all over…. I'm just really….out of shape and…not used to running. I don't think I can do this!" he said, out of breath.

Hope shook her head. "Nonsense! All you need is the right kind of motivation."

"I _am_ motivated!" Aiden insisted. He paused, panting and trying to catch his breath. "I want to do well at this so I can become a cop. I'm just no good at the physical aspect of it."

"You have motivation, but not the right kind of motivation," Hope reworded.

Aiden stood up. "What kind of motivation do I need then?"

Hope smirked at him, and looked him in the eyes as she pulled her tee-shirt off right in front of him.

Aiden looked around. No one was around to see, but he knew anyone could come out or drive by at any time. He then looked back at Hope, his eyes wide. "Hope! What are you doing? Someone could see you!"

Hope shrugged. "I have my sports bra on. Most women only jog in sports bras and don't even wear the tee-shirt overtop."

"You're not most women!" Aiden protested.

"Don't you like seeing me run in just my bra?" Hope asked, her voice taking on a seductive tone to it.

Aiden licked his lips and nodded. "Of course I do. I just don't want other people seeing you run in your bra."

"It's to help motivate you," Hope said. "Not to toot my own horn, but I know sex with me is what motivates you the most. If you manage to keep up with me the rest of the way around the block, then this…" She tugged at her bra, "will come off when we get home, and I assure you, it will be for your eyes only."

Aiden licked his lips. "You said we're doing weight lifting after this." Hope had a collection of weights at home ranging from the two-pound range to the thirty-pound range. "You're going to lift weights topless?"

Hope laughed, and pulled him to her.

He moaned, her body pressed so closely to his—with her in her bra especially—was already starting to affect him.

"Don't be silly," she said, pushing some hair out of his eyes again. "We'll work on cardio instead." She then brushed her lips against his ear. "In bed," she purred.

He swallowed hard. "Let's get jogging then!"

She smirked. "Remember, you have to keep up with me in order to win the prize." She winked at him, then took off jogging ahead of him her ponytail flopping back and forth.

He ran after her, his aching muscles suddenly not even noticeable to him as he made sure to stay by her side.

She looked over at him and smirked. "See? I told you all you needed was the right kind of motivation!"

He grinned at her. "I guess you were right."

"I'm always right, Mr. Jennings," Hope said before speeding up a little more.

Aiden sped up too. No way was he missing out on his promised bed cardio! Especially not after seeing Hope run in her bra, which really was a bit too small for her… He moaned, and picked up the pace.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Chase had gone with Theo and Joey to pick up the tripwire. Joey had then had them go on ahead to the school. He had something else he wanted to do, though he wouldn't tell them what.

"We'll set it up once Jason is in the shower," Ciara said.

So they waited. They all hung out in the girls' locker room while the basketball team practiced for an hour then showered.

"Whose locker is this? They have big knockers!" Chase asked with a laugh as he held up a DD bra."

"Chase! You can't go snooping around other people's lockers! What's wrong with you?" Ciara grabbed the bra from him and put it back in the locker.

Theo snickered.

Ciara shut the locker door. "Don't be a perv," she said to Chase. "That means you too," she said to Theo, shooting him a warning look.

"Sorry," Theo muttered, looking down to the floor.

"She should have had a lock on it if she didn't want anyone touching her stuff," Chase muttered.

Ciara rolled her eyes.

"Where is Joey so late?" Claire asked. "I thought he'd be here by now."

Theo shrugged. "He said he'd be here when he'd be here."

"Whatever that means," Claire grumbled.

"All right. It's five-thirty. Everyone but Jason should be gone by now. We better set up that tripwire before Jason gets done showering," Ciara stated.

The others voiced their agreement.

"I'll check just to make sure. If I get caught, I'll just say I left my science book here," Theo said. He then left the locker room. He came back two minutes later. "The coast is clear. No one else is around. Jason is showering."

"He didn't see you when you checked, did he?" Ciara asked.

Theo shook his head. "His back was toward me. Thank God. I did not want to see his—"

"Trust me, no one does," Ciara said, cutting him off. "Let's get to it."

So, they all sneaked out of the locker room, then spent the next five minutes setting up the tripwire and making sure all was well.

Suddenly, Joey appeared wearing all black. He had a ski mask in his hand. He grinned at them. "Looking good guys!"

"Joey! Where were you, and what are you wearing?" Claire asked, wrinkling her nose at him.

Joey grinned. "I was busy picking up this ensemble." He put the ski mask on. "I figured it might help to give him a little scare to help his little trip along." He grinned.

"Isn't that a little much?" Theo asked. "Now he'll know someone else was here."

They had no time to debate. They heard Jason coming out of the shower room so they quickly ducked into the dark equipment closet.

The teens hid in wait, waiting for Jason to trip. Jason was just about to the stairs when Joey pulled out a switch blade.

"Joey! What the hell are you doing?" Claire whispered.

Instead of responding to her, Joey jumped out at Jason, making a loud sound that very much resembled a lion roaring as he held up the knife to Jason.

Jason jumped and screamed in fright. He then ran toward the stairs so fast he didn't even see the tripwire. He immediately went crashing and tumbling down all ten stairs. When he hit the floor, he hit it hard. Both his left leg and his right arm were bent at angles no leg or arm should ever be bent.

Jason was screaming in pain.

"Joey! That was not in the plan!" Claire scolded.

"Sh!" Joey put a finger to his lips. He then grabbed any traces of the tripwire. "Let's get out of here. Now!"

The teens followed him out the back door, down the stairs, and around the school.

Joey took off his ski mask so as not to cause any unwanted attention from anybody.

"Let's meet at the park," Ciara ordered. She and Claire then got into Claire's car.

Theo and Chase got into Joey's car with Joey, and they all took off.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Hope through her head back in ecstasy, her mouth hanging slightly open and her eyes closed as Aiden made love to her. He was holding her up against the shower wall and she had her legs wrapped around his waist to help him support her.

His lips tongue, and teeth (gently) were all over her neck, intensifying her pleasure. Her pleasured moans echoed off the walls as he continued to bring her closer to defying gravity. His mouth moved to her right breast and he paid generous attention to it before moving on to the left one.

She moaned loudly as her body as he continued making love to her and she was electrified with another bolt of pleasure coursing throughout her body.

Aiden seemingly encouraged by her moans, became more forceful in his lovemaking.

She knew it wouldn't be long now. He was giving her so much pleasure she was seeing stars. His moans only intensified her pleasure, and soon he had brought her to his goal. This sent him over the edge as well, but he still wasn't done with her. He continued to make love to her for just a brief moment more.

"Aiden!" She gaped her head thrown back. "Mr. Jennings, as much as I love making love with you, I am absolutely spent." Her breathing was heavy. She still wanted him, but her body needed a moment before continuing. It was way too sensitive to touch at the moment.

"Sorry, My love," Aiden murmured. After a passionate kiss on her lips, he gently set her down.

They were both panting heavily.

Aiden grinned. "Now that is a work out I can definitely get into!" He smirked. "No pun intended."

Hope smiled, and fluffed his hair. "That was fantastic!"

"And way more fun than lifting weights. Not that you're heavy, because you're not," Aiden said, his breathing still heavy. He grinned at her.

Hope smiled. "You're lucky you added that last part. Though, in your defense, I do weigh more than any of the weights in my collection."

"You have to admit that this workout was way more fun," Aiden said to her.

Hope moaned. "Mm… So much more fun…" She hungrily kissed him. "And satisfying."

Aiden's eyes lowered with love for her. "Mmhm…" he greed, hungrily returning her kisses.

"Do you want to continue this in the bedroom?" she purred into his ear. "Chase told me before school he had plans with his friends and won't be home for dinner."

He moaned. "You read my mind."

She moaned too as he picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"I still don't feel right about not calling someone to help him!" Claire said once they were all in a secluded section of the park without worry of anyone listening in on their conversation.

Ciara rolled her eyes. "Relax! The janitor comes at seven. He'll find him soon enough. Besides, we don't need the police tracing any calls back to us."

"I didn't mean for him to get hurt so badly. I was thinking maybe a sprained wrist or something," Theo said, looking worried.

Claire nodded, looking sad. "I feel the same way." She turned to Joey. "And what the heck were you thinking, jumping out at him with a knife? Are you crazy?"

Joey shrugged. "It worked, didn't it? It scared him and caused him to fall. Anyway, I wasn't really going to stab him with it. It's not my fault he reacted like such a baby."

Ciara laughed. "It's too bad we didn't have him screaming and falling on video. You know, for our own enjoyment!"

Joey laughed. "I know, right?"

"There goes his basketball playing. A break takes a good six weeks to heal—especially two of them!" Chase said.

"That's what he gets! Maybe next time he'll think twice about bullying our friend," Ciara said. Now we move on to Becca. I'm not sure what I want to do to her yet, but I'll let you guys know."

Joey nodded. "Sounds good. I'll try to think of some ideas too. I think much better on a full stomach though. Who's up for pizza?"

"Me!" Chase said. "I'm starved."

"Me too," Ciara agreed.

"I honestly don't know how you guys can eat after what he just did to Jason," Claire said.

"Yeah, I know he isn't a nice guy, but he didn't deserve that," Theo agreed.

"He bullied Jonah so much that Jonah almost killed himself!" Joey reminded them.

Ciara nodded. "Trust me, he deserved it."

"Well, I don't want to be part in any more revenge. I won't rat you guys out, but I won't be part of it any longer," Theo said.

Claire nodded. "Same here."

Ciara rolled her eyes. "Whatever. So you're not going to pizza with us then?"

Claire shook her head. "No thanks. I think I'm just going to go home."

Theo nodded. "Me too."

Ciara shrugged. "Suit yourself."

They said their goodbyes, then Ciara, Chase, and Joey headed out in Joey's car to the pizza place.

"I can take you home," Claire said to Theo.

"Thanks," Theo said. "I just don't feel comfortable hurting people. By doing that, we are just as bad as the jerks that hurt Jonah."

Claire nodded. "I couldn't agree more. I mean, embarrassing them is one thing. But physically causing them pain is another. I never should have agreed to the tripwire thing to begin with. I was peer pressured into it."

Theo nodded. "We both were."

They were silent for a moment before Theo spoke again. "You know, I am a little hungry—just not for something as heavy as pizza. Do you feel like Chinese? It's a little lighter."

Claire smiled. "My dad is working tonight. Do you want to go back to my place with the food and watch Netflix? They just released _Dracula_ …"

Theo grinned big. "How can I resist _Dracula_?" He blushed. "Or you."

Claire blushed too, and smiled. "Orange chicken and lo mein?"

"And egg rolls?" Theo asked.

Claire laughed. "Yes, and egg rolls."

They then got into her car and happily headed to the Chinese takeout restaurant.


	44. S2E20

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **Season 2 Episode 20: Bitch**_

Two weeks had passed. Chase was rattled. He thought back to the day following their attack on Jason.

 _The next day in school, police had come to question students. Jason, who had a broken arm and leg and most definitely wouldn't be able to play basketball this season, had told the cops about someone having scared him. He mentioned how that someone had been wearing all black, including a black ski mask. More importantly, he had mentioned how that someone had had a knife, which now made this a criminal investigation._

 _They had all been questioned. Chase had been sure Claire was going to crack. To his surprise, however, she had remained calm, and stated how she hadn't seen anything. According to Claire, she was back home taking a nap._

 _Theo had been next. He said he had gone to the park since it was a nice day out, and he wasn't at school to have seen anything take place either._

 _Ciara's excuse was that she had gone to the mall for a dress she wanted, but they didn't have her size, so she bought nothing and headed home._

 _Joey had said he hadn't been feeling well and had also gone home to take a nap._

 _Chase said he had gone home to feed his cat and do some homework._

 _None of them had alibies of course, but neither did a lot of the students in the school._

 _Chase's heart had nearly stopped when he heard the police asking the principal about their security cameras. This was it, they were all going to get caught and thrown in jail, he thought. He'd never survive jail. He'd end up raped by horny perverted men who hadn't had sex in who knew how long. He might even be beat up or killed._

" _I'm sorry, we're in the process of switching over to a better security company. The company we were using ended up closing down. Unfortunately, the new company is a little bit behind, so they won't have the new cameras installed for another two and a half weeks," the principal replied. "Thankfully we haven't had much of a problem with our students. Until now of course."_

" _Of course," the police officer said, writing something down on his notepad._

That had been the end of it. They hadn't heard anything since. For the past two weeks, Chase had been on edge, sure he was going to get caught at any moment.

"I can't do this anymore. I'm out." Chase held his hands up in the air. They were lounging around at Claire's after school. Her father was working, and her mother now lived in Chicago for business purposes. No one would be interrupting them any time soon, so they were free to discuss what had happened.

"Oh, come on!" Ciara crossed her arms over her chest. "Not you too."

"We are getting sloppy. We didn't even think about security cameras! Do you have any idea how lucky we are to have caught that break? Any idea at all?" Chase asked.

Ciara shrugged. "They weren't working, so no big deal."

"But what if they were, Ciara? We could have been caught and thrown in jail! Right now that is the very last thing I need! Though, maybe after killing my mother, it's where I belong." Chase hung his head. Marlena was helping him move past things a little, but he still had moments where he felt extreme guilt.

"Quit being such a baby!" Ciara scolded. "You killed your mother by accident when you were too little to know any better. So what? She's gone now and there's nothing you can do about it, so get over it and suck it up!"

Claire gasped. "Ciara, stop it!"

Theo nodded. "Ciara, that was cold."

Ciara glared at him. "Nobody asked your opinion, Theo."

"Nice way to talk to your boyfriend!" Claire snapped.

Ciara sighed. "You're right." She turned her attention to Theo. "I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"It's all right," Theo said, though the look on his face showed that he had been hurt by her harsh scolding.

"I'm done. Whether they deserve it or not, I'm not going to continue to hurt people. I'm going home," Chase said, getting up off the couch.

Ciara stood up from her chair and walked over to him. She hugged him. "I'm sorry, Chase, all right? I was way out of line. If you don't want to do this, then you don't have to. Just please don't rat us out."

Chase looked at her. "I would never do that. Anyway, I'd be ratting myself out as well. See you around." He then took off shutting the door in her face.

Ciara rolled her eyes and sat back down. "He'll get over it. You're still in, aren't you, Joe?" Ciara asked.

Joey nodded. "Darn right I am! What's the next plan?"

Ciara looked at Theo and Claire. "I'm sorry but if you're not going to take part in the payback, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. This needs to be discussed in private."

Claire wrinkled her nose. "Leave? Are you forgetting it's my apartment?"

Ciara rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She stood up. "Let's go, Joe!"

Joey got up and followed her, and they left after mumbled goodbyes.

"So, what do you have in mind?" Joey asked as they entered an empty elevator together.

Ciara grinned wickedly at him. "Before the school gets the cameras installed again, I want to get back at Becca and AJ who think they are both God's gift to everyone. They are obsessed with their looks, so I'm going to take away their looks. I have chemistry lab with them. They are conveniently enough, lab partners. If you sneak and pull the fire alarm while I'm in class, everyone will clear out of the class room. I'll sneak back in and switch out the chemicals they are working with so that when they mix them, the chemicals will explode in their faces, burn said faces, and there goes their good looks! I Chemistry is one thing I'm actually good at. I know my chemicals. The chem lab has lots of chemicals in it, and most of them have a chemical that they cannot be mixed with."

Joey grinned just as wickedly. "I love it! That will teach them! What are they going to do without their good looks?"

Ciara smirked. "Exactly!"

"When do we do this?" Joey asked.

"As soon as school resumes on Monday. Chemistry is at eleven," Ciara replied.

Joey nodded. "All right. And what about Jake? We still have to get him."

Again, Ciara smirked, and eyebrow raised this time. "You leave Jake to me. I have something special in mind for him that I plan on working on tonight."

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Aiden had been training hard with Detective Davis for two weeks ow and was beyond tired. He was positively exhausted and achy all over but he was getting in better shape. He could tell.

He came home, exhausted, and headed up the stairs to take a nap. He was too tired to even shower or change.

He laid down on the bed, and felt something mushy and wet on his back. "What the heck?" He looked and saw that he had just laid on a pile of cat yack. "Meredith!" he cried out. "Gosh that sounds so weird," he grumbled. He still couldn't get over Chase calling his cat the same name as his mother.

Aiden pulled off his shirt and tossed it in the hamper. "Great! Just great. This is the _last_ thing I need right now." He went into the bathroom and took out some toilet paper. He then picked up the mess with it before going back to the bathroom and flushing it all down the toilet. He then came back out and changed the sheets. He put the dirty sheets in the hamper. It had hurt to even just reach up to grab the new linens from the linen closet.

Once the bed was made, he decided he had done that much work, he might as well shower and get the sweat off instead of lying in a clean bed all dirty.

After his shower, he got dressed for bed. He didn't feel like going out for the rest of the night. All he wanted to do was take a three-hour nap, wake up, have a late dinner, then make love to Hope. Though, the way he felt now, he wasn't quite sure he'd be able to do that last part.

"Finally!" he said as he climbed into bed. He closed his eyes. Five minutes later, he felt soft hair brushing against his cheek. Then he heard an incessant meowing in his ear. He opened one eye to see Meredith staring down at him. "Go away!" he muttered. He turned away from the cat. "Chase is always out lately. He was should be home taking care of his own stupid cat!" he said angrily.

Meredith meowed again.

"I don't care if you're hungry. I am tired. You're just going to have to wait until your dad gets home." Aiden groaned as he realized what he had just said. "What am I doing? I'm talking to a cat as if she's my grandchild." He closed his eyes again, then felt Meredith's tail hitting him against the face repeatedly.

His eyes popped open. "That's it!" He picked Meredith up and plopped her onto the floor. "Go away!" He would have gotten up and kicked her out of the room, but he was in too much pain, and way too tired.

He laid on his back and closed his eyes. He was just starting to fall asleep. Meredith had shut up, and he was finally able to fall asleep, feeling peaceful.

He awoke soon after upon hearing a noise. It sounded like a water jug being emptied. _What the heck?_ he thought. "Hope? Are you home?" he asked, his eyes still closed. He figured maybe she was drinking something, or dumping something down the drain in the bathroom's sink. "Hope?" he asked again when he got no answer.

He opened his eyes just in time to see Meredith release another pile of yack from her mouth that fell right onto his face.

It took him a moment to process what had just happened. Then, he sat up so fast the cat got scared and took off with a screech. " _ **Meredith**_!"

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Jonah's mother Beverly knocked on Jonah's bedroom door. "Jonah, there's a friend here to see you."

"Send them in!" Jonah said cheerily from his desk. He put down his history notes he had been studying. For the first semester, he had agreed to be homeschooled. He hoped by next semester, he could rejoin his classmates.

He looked toward the door when it opened, a big smile on his face, for he was expecting to see one of the teens. However, his face dropped when he saw that it was Jake.

"Don't freak out!" Jake said right away. "I come in peace." He shut the door behind him, and then sat down on Jonah's unoccupied bed.

"What do you want?" Jonah asked, pushing the desk chair he was sitting in a little further away from the bed.

Jake then did something that shocked Jonah to the core. He began crying.

"I'm _so_ sorry!" Jake cried. "I never thought you would try to kill yourself over what we did to you! I just wanted to fit in and be part of the cool crowd! I never thought it would go that far!"

"Why are you even friends with those jerks? That says a lot about who you are as a person. Do you know how hurtful you all have been to me? I have enough self-esteem issues and you guys just made them a million times worse!" Jonah snapped. He usually wasn't one to get angry, but now that he was faced with the bullies in the comfort of his own bedroom, with his parents just downstairs, he felt bolder. He felt brave enough to tell him off.

The tears continued to pour down Jake's face. "I'm sorry, all right? I'm not popular without them. Without them, I'm just a friendless loser."

Jonah shook his head. "With them, is when you're the loser—not to mention a bully. If you didn't hang out with that crowd you wouldn't be either of those things," Jonah stated, his arms crossed over his chest.

Jake nodded. "I realize that now. I don't hang with Lauren anymore, and I try to steer clear of Becca. It's harder to not be friends with Jason and AJ because they are nice to me; just jerks to everyone else."

"That's still no excuse," Jonah stated.

"I just feel bad for AJ. He'd kill me if I ever told anyone this—especially you," Jake began.

"But?" Jonah asked.

Jake sighed. "AJ's father is an abusive alcoholic. He is all about being tough and showing people who is in charge. I think that is where AJ got it from. This summer, AJ caught his father beating on his mother in a drunken state. AJ tried to stop him, and his father punched him in the face, then pushed him so hard he flew across the room and hit wall behind him. AJ ended up calling the cops on his own father. His father spent a month in jail. Needless to say AJ's mom is now divorcing his dad. She even got a restraining order on him. Seeing her husband do that to their son was the last straw. Now AJ is bitter, and mad at the world. That is part of why he acts the way he does."

Jonah shook his head. "Well, I'm sorry he went through all that, but it still gives him no right to act like he does! He stole two-hundred dollars from me! He also pulled my hair, called me fat, and let's not forget he helped Lauren with her little prank."

"Well, I'm going to be there for AJ if he needs to talk about his home life, but I'm not going to be hanging with his crowd anymore. Jason tripped down some stairs and broke an arm and a leg, so he's out of commission for a bit. I'm hoping that tones him down. Heck, even Lauren seems to keep to herself nowadays. It's weird. She's not her same old snarky self," Jake explained.

"I'll believe _that_ when I see it. I start school again next semester," Jonah replied.

"Well, when you return, I'll make sure no one hassles you," Jake replied.

"How can I trust that you're going to be nice to me now? How do I know this isn't another prank set up by AJ?" Jonah asked.

Jake got up from the bed and headed for the door. He stopped at the doorway and shrugged. "You don't. I'll prove it to you though." He then left without another word.

Jonah stared after the door that Jake closed on his way out. He wasn't sure if he trusted Jake. And how was Jake going to prove that he had changed?

Jonah shook his head and sighed, then went back to his history notes. He guessed only time would tell.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

It happened over the weekend. The billboard that the teens had paid for went up. It was over a main highway on the way to school, so the whole school saw it. It was a picture of Lauren lying in bed, as bald as Mr. Clean, he eyes bugging and her mouth wide open. The caption read: _Bold-Faced Liars Never Prosper._

When they arrived at school, they found Lauren sobbing. "I didn't even want to come to school but my parents made me!" She was crying to Becca at her locker.

"Hey, Baldie! Are you Mr. Clean's girlfriend now?" asked one of the jocks. He walked by Lauren and pulled at her wig, causing it to fall off. "Oops! Sorry! I didn't mean to put you in a hairy situation!" the jock said. His friends all laughed, as did anyone within ear range.

Lauren quickly grabbed her wig and put it back on.

"It's crooked. Here." Becca fixed it for her.

More people snickered.

"I can't stay here!" Lauren said. "I've never been more embarrassed in my life!"

"Well, now maybe you know how Jonah felt!" Ciara snapped at her.

Lauren looked at her with anger, but then her face crumpled and she burst into tears. She ran to the girls' bathroom.

"Lauren, wait!" Becca said, running after her.

"This doesn't feel as good as I thought it would," Claire said, shutting her locker door.

Ciara shut her own locker door, and turned to her. "You're right; it feels better." She grinned.

Claire rolled her eyes. "What's that?" she asked nodding toward the fliers Ciara had in her hands.

Ciara grinned. She showed Claire a flier that had Jake kissing another man on them. On top of the flier it read, _Jake and Evan True love forever…_

"Jake is gay?" Claire asked in surprise.

Ciara shook her head. "Nope! Chad has a really good program that is installed in my computer at the guest house. It puts Photoshop to shame. You'd be amazed and all the cool stuff you can do with it!"

"What are you going to do with those?" Claire asked nodding toward the fliers.

"Spread them all over school when no one's looking. Jake will die from the embarrassment of people thinking he's gay. He's such a pig hitting on all the girls in this school. This will serve him right!"

"It's kind of just as mean as he was, isn't it?" Claire asked.

Ciara rolled her eyes. "Not even close! Now get to class, Claire, and learn to mind your own business."

Ciara then took off, leaving a shocked Claire in the dust.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"What do you look so grumpy about?" Hope asked. She had come home from work, looking for Aiden. She found him in the bedroom, lying on the bed in shorts and a tee shirt. He looked angry.

"I am in so much pain from running and working out all day. My muscles ache all over, and I am exhausted," he stated.

"Why not take a nap then?" she asked, taking off her blazer and draping it over the back of her vanity chair.

"I tried," Aiden said coolly. "But a certain cat puked on the bed. I had to change the linens, which were on such a high shelf it hurt reaching for them. I took a shower and was going to nap after that, but then Meredith kept meowing wanting me to get up and get her food. I was too tired too. I plopped her back down onto the floor because she jumps up onto our bed now, yes she does. I finally fell asleep only to wake up to the sound of her hacking. I open my eyes, and am greeted by the sight of Meredith hacking another huge, wet, hairball onto my face."

Hope snickered. She covered her mouth. "She didn't!"

Aiden nodded. "She did. I think I even got some in my mouth."

"Oh no!" Hope started to laugh.

"It's not funny! I was so disgusted! By the time I got her kicked out of the room, washed my face, brushed my teeth, and rinsed with Listerine a good ten times, I was no longer able to sleep, yet I'm still _so_ exhausted. Now I'm in a sour mood, and I really don't want to take it out on you because none of this is your fault. Still, your laughter doesn't help matters." He crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm sorry. I—" Hope was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes. She was finally able to get it under control after a minute. She sat down on the bed next to him, and kissed him softly on the lips, his face between her hands. "I'm sorry, my Love. Let me put you in a better mood…" she purred, kissing down the side of his neck. "I know just the thing to make you feel much better. It will even help you sleep after!"

"Hope, as much as I love making love with you, I'm too achy and tired to even think about that right now," Aiden said.

Hope smirked. "Not that! Get your mind out of the gutter!" She got up off the bed and headed into the bathroom. "You'll like this almost as much!"

Aide sighed. He had no idea what she had in mind, but he was willing to try it if it would help him—just so long as it didn't involve a four-legged, white-haired little monster.


	45. S2E21

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **Season 2 Episode 21: I Fought the Law**_

"Where did you get those?" Aiden asked Hope as she came back upstairs with the massage oils she had just warmed up. "I just bought them recently and was waiting for the right time to use them. I remembered from personal experience how achy training for the police academy can make a person. Heck, there are still days where I get achy. I figured there would come a day really soon that you would need a massage," Hope replied.

Aiden smiled at her. "You're always looking out for me."

She grinned, then leaned down to purr into his ear, "That's because I love you." She kissed him softly on the lips. She then set the bottles down on the night stand. "This is going to need to come off." She grabbed the hem of Aiden's t-shirt.

Aiden held his arms up allowing her to pull it off him. She dropped it to the floor. "Lie down on your stomach," she gently ordered.

Aiden did as told, then she took out her iPod, hooked it up to the speakers dock, and set it to play the playlist she had selected. Soon, sounds of a rainstorm could be heard.

Aiden moaned. "This is nice."

"I haven't even begun the massage yet," Hope said with a smirk.

"I'm still already more relaxed," he said, closing his eyes.

She got down on the bed beside him and leaned down to kiss his back. "Good!"

She grabbed the bottles. "I chose Hawaiian breeze and Chamomile Lavender. The Hawaiian Breeze should soothe you, and the lavender chamomile will help you sleep," she said.

"Mm… Sounds good," he murmured.

She took the Hawaiian Breeze first, rubbed it between her hands, and then slowly began to massage his back. She used her thumbs to make sure to get deep into his shoulder blades, working out all the knots the best she could.

"Mm… Your hands are like magic," he murmured.

She laughed. "I wouldn't call it magic." She leaned down and kissed the back of his neck. "Just love," she murmured.

"I love you too," he murmured back.

As Hope continued to thoroughly massage his back, she felt Aiden begin to relax more.

"You know, if you ever need a career to fall back on, a massage therapist could be your calling," Aiden said. "But I'd only want you working with women. I don't want your hands all over other men."

Hope smirked. "I think I'd rather stick to massaging just you."

Aiden moaned as she worked out another tension knot. "I can definitely get on board with that!" He was quiet for a moment, then spoke again. "You know, Hawaii might be a nice place for us to go on our honeymoon."

"That would be nice," Hope agreed. "Or Paris."

"Wherever makes you, Happy, Baby. "Heck, even if you wanted to honeymoon on Mars, I'd find a way for us to get a space shuttle ride up there," he teased.

Hope laughed. "There wouldn't be much to do up in Mars. All that's up there is darkness and stars. Maybe we'd get a glimpse of the moon or some comets."

"It will be our honeymoon. I can think of something to do, and it just so happens to be something we'd rather do in the dark. As for the moon, stars, and comets, they will bring a romantic vibe," he teased some more.

Hope laughed. "True. Very true, but I think I'd rather stick with Hawaii, or Paris, or the Cayman Islands maybe?"

"Maybe all three. We can do a travelling honeymoon," Aiden said.

"That might be interesting," Hope said with a smile. She set the Hawaiian Breeze down and picked up the lavender chamomile. She rewarmed it between her hands, then began gently massaging his neck.

He sighed contently. "I still say you've got the magic touch. Magic and filled with love."

She kissed his right shoulder in response and continued massaging his neck.

"I think the sleep factor is already starting to take effect," he murmured.

She got up and opened the window. It was still pretty warm for September. The cool breeze entered through the window screen.

"Mm… That feels nice," he murmured.

"I'm glad," Hope said. "Roll over onto your back."

She took more lavender chamomile oil into her hands then got back on the bed and massaged his chest. She took even more care with his chest, moving her hands slowly over it.

Aiden moaned. "I wanna kiss you."

Hope smiled, then leaned down. They hungrily kissed for a moment before she went back to the task at hand. She began to massage his legs—working her magic on the right one first, then moving onto the legs. After that, she took more Hawaiian Breeze and massaged his feet and toes.

Aside from some sporadic relaxed moans, Aiden hadn't spoken much in a while. She knew he was asleep.

When she finished the massage, she pulled the covers over him then bent down and kissed his cheek. "Sleep well, my Love," she murmured, her hair lightly brushing against his neck.

He woke up, moaned, wrapped his arms around her, and then kissed her softly on the lips. "Lie down with me for a while. I want to hold you."

"Of course," she said, gently stroking his cheek. "I'm tired from working. I could use the nap anyway." She had already taken off her blazer, but she now unbuttoned her blouse and took it off. Her blouse met with the hamper, and then her slacks and stockings did. She did on a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top then slipped into bed next to him.

He pulled her into his arms again. "Thank you for the massage. I feel much better now. When I'm awake enough, I'm giving you one in return."

She kissed him. "I love making you feel good."

His eyes lowered both with love for her and from his exhaustion. "And I love making _you_ feel good." He gently took her face between his hands and kissed her softly on the lips. "Maybe after our nap we can order a pizza in, then I'll give you that massage after dinner while we talk more about our honeymoon," he purred into her ear.

"Mm… Sounds like a plan," she murmured. She was suddenly so tired now too.

They held each other close, and he gently played with her hair until they both fell asleep in each other's arms to the sounds of the ocean, which was another one of the playlist's tracks.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

The day and time had finally arrived for Ciara and Joey to get their final revenge on Jonah's bullies. Ciara and Joey were very eager to get started.

"You know what to do, right?" Ciara asked Joey.

Joey nodded. "I know what to do."

"What do you have to do?" Claire asked, coming in and taking her seat that was next to Joey's in class.

Ciara and Joey both clammed up. "Nothing!" they said in unison.

"It's obviously not nothing, but all right," Claire said.

" _Wow_. You changed. Would it be weird to say you look hot even though you're my cousin?" Joey who was sitting in front of Ciara, asked her.

"No, since you don't mean it in a gross way. But wasn't I hot before?" Claire fluffed her new bob.

Joey shrugged. "I guess."

Claire rolled her eyes.

Ciara nodded at her. "Nice clothes. I didn't think that was your style. You're showing off more skin than you usually like to." She nodded toward Claire's short red and black plaid skirt that went to the middle of her thighs. She wore a slightly cropped black t-shirt that showed off just a slim line of stomach and made her look bustier than she really was. Ciara wondered if Claire had stuffed her bra, or if her bra was just padded really well. Her lips were blood red, and her eyes were heavily lined with black and dusted with black and silver in a smoky eye.

"Why are you wearing a smoky eye during the day?" Ciara asked her.

Claire laughed, and pushed some hair behind her ear. "Who says you can only look hot during the nighttime?" she asked.

Theo came in then, and Ciara watched as Claire crossed her legs, pushing her left foot forward, showing off her laced-up knee-high boots.

Theo stopped short. "Wow, Claire! You look fantastic!"

Claire smiled and winked at him. "Thank you."

"You never tell me I look fantastic and I'm your girlfriend," Ciara grumbled as Theo sat down in the desk behind Claire's and next to Ciara's.

Theo glanced at her. "Sorry. You look great too."

"Just great?" Ciara asked; annoyed. She crossed her arms over her chest.

But Theo was already smiling at Claire again and talking to her. "I love your hair. It makes you look even more mature."

"Thanks!" Claire smiled big. She fluffed her hair again. "I just needed a change."

Ciara rolled her eyes. When she noticed all the guys in class were looking at Claire too, she scowled. "Whatever," she muttered to herself.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Later that day, at five to eleven, the bell rang, indicating it was time for chemistry class.

"Here goes nothing. Wait until quarter after to pull the alarm," Ciara said.

Joey nodded. "I will."

Ciara then left for class.

"What was that all about?" Claire asked Joey after Ciara had left.

Joey grinned at her, then looked around to make sure no one was listening in. He then confessed his and Ciara's plan to Claire.

"Seriously? That's going too far! For one, you could get into serious trouble for pulling the fire alarm. For two, burning someone's face goes beyond a payback crime! We're talking a felony here!" Claire said a little too loudly for Joey's taste.

Again, Joey looked around. "Sh! I shouldn't have told you. Forget I did. They deserve this. It's a small price to pay for causing Jonah to almost kill himself. Ciara and I won't get caught. We know what we're doing. No go off to your next class. I know you, Miss Goody-Goody —you were never late for class a day in your life, and I'm sure you don't want to be today either!"

Claire looked at him in shock, then clenched her fists and stormed off. She couldn't let them do this. Something had to be done.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

Ciara was confident in herself. They were working with ammonium nitrate. It was going to be easier than she thought. She waited for the fire alarm to sound. When it did, she ran out the room with everyone else, and once the teacher had run out as well, she sneaked back in. She shut the door, then quickly got to work. She went into the closet where they kept the chemicals. The teacher had been in such a hurry to get out, he hadn't even thought to lock it back up. Not that it would have mattered if he hadn't. She knew he kept the key in a hidden compartment in the top drawer of his desk.

She grabbed the zinc powder and the salt. Then, she poured the two into the motor filled with the ammonium oxide, and quickly mixed it together with the pestle. Lucky for her, they were also working with water, so she was all set. As soon as AJ and Becca mixed the powdery mixture and the water into their beaker, they could say bye, bye to their good looks.

The fire alarm suddenly stopped, and Ciara quickly turned to leave. She practically jumped out of her skin when she saw not only her chemistry teacher, but the principal and two of the school security guards as well. Even more surprising and startling, one of the security guards was holding Joey by the back of his shirt. However, that wasn't even the most surprising thing. The thing that was the _most_ shocking to Ciara was seeing Claire standing beside them with a guilty-looking expression. Ciara knew then without having to be told. Claire had ratted them out.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"I'm glad we finally get to eat lunch together. We never get to do this anymore," Aiden said as he and Hope had lunch at the pizza parlor.

"It's only pizza, but it's better than nothing right?" Hope asked.

Aiden nodded. "Of course! So, no new leads on who killed Rafe and his father and brother?"

Hope shook her head. "No. Whomever did it knew what they were doing. I don't want this case to go unsolved. I feel I owe it to Rafe to solve this for him. But it's been weeks and we haven't found anything to go by. I know it's early yet, but I really think this case is going to go cold and whomever did this is going to get away with it. Lani is so upset she is transferring to Chicago. She said it's just too painful to work in the same precinct she used to work with Rafe in. They were partners. I know from also having been partners with Rafe the bond it gives you. She really must be going through hell right now, the poor girl."

Aiden tried not to wince.

"I didn't mean to bring up our bond again. I'm sorry," Hope said softly.

Aiden looked up at her. He smiled weakly, and gently took her hands in his from across the table. "You know me too well. I thought I was good at hiding my expressions." He then sighed. "I'm the one who's sorry. You were partners with him in more ways than one. I know that this must still hurt you so much even though your romantic partnership was over."

Hoped nodded. "It does. Very deeply." She then gently squeezed Aiden's hands. "But with you, I know I can get through anything."

This brought a smile to Aiden's face, revealing his dimples.

Hope smiled big the way she only did with Aiden. "I love your dimples. They're so adorable!"

"What if I want to be sexy and not adorable?" Aiden asked with an eyebrow raised.

Hope licked her lips, and her eyes got the lust-filled look in them. "Trust me, you're plenty sexy too." She stepped out of her flat, and gently ran her stockinged-foot up his leg. "If you're up to it, I can show you exactly how sexy I find you."

Aiden licked his lips. "In that case, let's head back home right now!"

Hope laughed. "Nice try! I meant after work." She removed her foot from under his pant leg, and put her flat back on.

Aiden shrugged. "Can't blame a guy for trying!" he said, taking another bite of his pizza.

Hope smirked. "You know what I think we should do?" She noticed the look on Aiden's face. "Get your mind out of the gutter."

"If it's not that, then I'm not interested," he joked.

She rolled her eyes, and continued anyway. "I was thinking we should start planning our wedding—starting with a date!"

"Now that is a topic I'm happy to talk about that doesn't involve sex." He grinned.

Hope smiled. "I knew you wouldn't mind."

"Do you want a big wedding, or a small wedding?" Aiden asked.

"If you don't mind, I was thinking something a little smaller this time around. We already did a bigger wedding. I just want our closest friends and family there," Hope replied.

"Where would you like to get married?" Aiden asked.

"Where would _you_ like to get married? You should be able to make some decisions too." Hope took his hands from across the table again, and kissed them.

Aiden kissed her hands in return. "Baby, as long as I'm marrying you, I don't care if it's at a garbage dump! I'll just be happy to marry you."

Hope raised an eyebrow. "At a garbage dump?"

Aiden grinned. "Okay, maybe I'd have to draw the line at the garbage dump, but anywhere else is fine."

They both laughed.

"I have an idea, but I'm not sure you'll like it. It would just be at a house," Hope said before sipping her soda, her eyes on Aiden.

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Whose house?"

"Jennifer's. As you know, it was formerly my grandmother's house. My Gran meant so much to me. To get married in her house would…Nothing would please me more," Hope answered.

Aiden squeezed her hands in his own. "Then, if it's okay with Jennifer, your Gran's old house it is! Maybe we can even get Father Louis to marry us there."

"That would be perfect! After all, it's because of him forcing us to work together that we fell in love." Hope rubbed her thumb over Aiden's fingers.

"Exactly," he said, smiling and revealing the dimples that Hope loved so much.

"I know it's soon, but since it's a small house wedding, we won't need much planning. I was thinking maybe a Christmas Eve Wedding?" Hope continued. "Everything would already be set up for Christmas, and so beautiful. And at the end of our wedding we can hang your ball up on the tree."

Aiden winced. "Sounds painful!"

Hope's eyes lit up as she caught his joke. She playfully swatted his hands. "Stop that!"

They both laughed again.

"In all seriousness, that sounds perfect." Aiden kissed her hands one more time. "It will be a dream come true to marry you again. It will make my Christmas all the more magical," he said.

Hope smiled, but before she could respond, Aiden's phone rang.

"Excuse me a moment. It could be work," he said, taking out his phone.

"Of course," Hope replied. She sipped her soda.

Aiden's eyes widened in surprise. "It's Ciara," he said. "I wonder what she's calling me for. Maybe she wants to get ahold of you."

Hope checked her phone. "She didn't try calling me. She must want to talk to you."

Aiden, both surprised and curious, swiped to answer. "Hello? … What? Ciara… All right. Sit tight, and don't talk to anyone! Your mother and I will be right there." He hung up the phone.

Hope was already getting out of her chair, looking worried. "What's wrong?"

"Ciara's just been arrested at school for trying to chemically burn two students' faces, and Joey has been arrested for pulling a fire alarm, and for aiding and abetting her," Aiden replied. "She needs me to represent her."

Hope's mouth dropped open. She was literally at a loss of words. She grabbed her jacket, then practically dragged Aiden out of the pizza place so that she could get to her daughter and find out what the heck was going on.


	46. S2E22

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **Season 2 Episode 22: Help**_

"Tell me everything that happened," Aiden ordered Ciara once they were in the privacy of the interrogation room.

Ciara sighed. "I got so angry with the bullies who almost caused Jonah to kill himself, I wanted revenge. They were still mocking him even though they knew he had almost killed himself. So, I decided to take manners into my own hands."

"How?" Hope asked, her arms crossed over her chest. She was not thrilled with her daughter at the moment.

Again, Ciara sighed. She then told Aiden and Hope everything. She told them about the hair shaving and billboard incident. She told them about the tripwire incident. She told them about the gay fliers, and finally, she told them about the current situation.

"I can't believe you did all those things. Who are you?" Hope asked angrily.

"I'm sorry, all right? I figured they had it coming to them. What I did to them was nothing compared to the life they almost took." Ciara looked and sounded more angry than sad.

Hope raised an eyebrow at her, even angrier than she was before. "Except the difference is theirs was unintentional. Yes, the bullying was intentional, but we both know they didn't mean for him to try to kill himself."

Ciara crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at her. "Well, they weren't even sorry, and that's just as bad."

"Did Jonah know about any of this?" Aiden asked.

Ciara shook her head. "We didn't tell him because we knew he was too nice to approve of this."

"Well, then maybe you shouldn't have done it!" Hope snapped.

Ciara shrugged, her arms crossed over her chest. "They needed to pay for what they did to Jonah even if Jonah is too nice to admit it."

"So, Chase took part in this too?" Aiden asked, the color draining from his face a little.

"Yes and no," Ciara replied. "He helped with the billboard, and he helped with the tripwire. None of us expected Joey to jump out in a ski mask and a knife to scare the hell out of Jason. We didn't expect Jason to break anything. We just thought he'd sprain his wrist or something and not be able to play basketball this season. Claire and Theo saw what happened and they were out. They didn't want to do it anymore. Chase decided he had already killed his mother and didn't want to hurt anyone else, so he bailed as well. The gay fliers were all me. I told Claire about them, but she was against me putting them up. I didn't tell anyone else. I flew solo on that one. Joey and I were the only ones who knew about the chem lab plan—that is until Joey was dumb enough to tell Claire about it and the little traitor ratted us out!"

"Well, you can be glad she did because, if you had actually gone through with your plan and burned those two student's faces, you could be in a jail cell right now, and there is nothing much I could do for you," Aiden told her. "Does Joey need representation too?"

Ciara shook her head. "Justin's on it."

Aiden nodded. "Here's what we're going to do. Even if you're not sorry, you're going to _act_ sorry. You're even going to summon up some tears. I don't care I you have to think of almost losing Jonah, or even if you have to think of your father's death. You need to do whatever it is you have to do to bring on the tears and make the judge take sympathy on you. It will also help to get sympathy from the parents of the students you almost maimed, as well as from the principal. More importantly, you keep your mouth shut about the billboard, tripwire, and fliers incident. You hear me?"

Ciara nodded.

"You need to apologize to all the people I mentioned above, including to the students whose faces you were going to burn. If we're lucky, I can get you a lenient sentence like community service and or a fine," Aden continued.

Ciara nodded.

"I hope you understand, Ciara, how wrong this was of you to do. I know what the bullies did was a horrible thing, but you're better than them! You are a smart, kind, and caring young woman. This is not you. Don't let some horrible teenagers ruin the good person that you are. Your father would want you to be better than that," Hope gently scolded.

For the first time since arriving at the police station, Ciara got tears in her eyes. She nodded, but didn't look up.

"Good! Keep those tears and that regret. You're going to need them!" Aiden said. "I have to go talk to the judge. I'll be back in a few." Aiden then left the room, shutting the door behind him to give Hope and Ciara some privacy.

"You're lucky Aiden is here to represent you, you know," Hope said to Ciara. "He's the best lawyer there is."

Ciara finally looked up at her. "I know." She was quiet for a moment, then spoke again. "Do you think Dad would be disappointed in me?"

Hope sighed. She walked over to Ciara and wrapped her arms around her. "Baby, I think your father would be sad you chose to go the rout you went, but I also think he would understand." Hope smirked. "It's not like he's never went off to get revenge on anyone!"

Ciara smiled too.

"If anything, I think he would be proud of you for facing up to what you did," Hope continued.

"Except for the other things I did, but didn't get caught doing them," Ciara reminded her.

Hope nodded. "Your father also didn't raise a fool. He'd want you to keep your mouth shut about those things. Lauren's hair will grow back, and the billboard can be taken down. She'll eventually get over the embarrassment. Jason's bones will heal, and Jake will find a girlfriend then all the gay rumors will be put to rest. He will also get over the embarrassment. As for Becca and AJ, their pretty and handsome faces are still intact, so no harm done. Besides, like you said…" Hope leaned down and whispered in her daughter's ear. "They had it coming." She winked at her.

Ciara and Hope grinned at each other.

"But don't get me wrong—doing something that could have killed them and or maimed them was still very wrong!" Hope then added turning more serious again.

"I get it! I learned my lesson. Trust me," Ciara said.

"Good!" Hope replied, her arms crossed over her chest.

Aiden came back a short while later. "All right. Your bail is set at $5,000. I was able to expedite your hearing to two days from now. You need to be on your best behavior until then. Also, you're not allowed to go to school again until the court and principal decides what to do with you—judges orders."

Ciara shrugged. "At least I get a couple days off."

"More if they expel you. You better pray that doesn't happen," Hope said, shooting her a warning look.

"I'll do my best to get leniency on that as well," Aiden said. "But, since it's outside of the courts, so you may have to help vouch for Ciara, being her mother and all. You can tell the principal how she hasn't been the same since Jonah almost died, and she is still reeling over the loss of her father."

Hope nodded. "It wouldn't be lying." She sighed. "Let's go get Ciara's bail paid off."

"Then can we go eat? I'm starved! I didn't get a chance to have lunch yet," Ciara said as she got out of her chair and stood up.

"I have to get back to work," Hope said.

"As do I," Aiden replied.

"Sorry, but you're on your own," Hope said to her.

Ciara shrugged. "No worries. I'll see if Chad wants to get lunch."

"Good! He's rich. Maybe you can see if he can give you an advance for looking after Thomas. Don't think you don't have to pay me back for his bail money," Hope said, giving Ciara a stern look.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll get on it," Ciara said, fighting to not roll her eyes.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"So, is having a cat helping you to feel better?" Marlena asked. Chase was having another session with her.

Chase nodded. "I named her after my mother. I know it sounds crazy, but I feel like, by taking care of my cat Meredith, it's almost like making up for being such a bad son to my _mom_ Meredith."

Marlena smiled kindly at him. "It doesn't sound crazy at all! But Chase, you have to accept the fact that you were just a child when you accidently killed your mother. You can't possibly call yourself a bad son. Your mother loved you very much! I didn't know her, but from what you've told me about her that you remember, it seems like she was a very nice lady who loved her son very much! Sure she had a bit of a drinking problem, but that didn't make her a bad person. That didn't stop her from loving you."

"And look how I repaid her for loving me," Chase grumbled.

Marlena sighed. "Did you think in your head, 'This is a gun! I want to shoot and kill my mother with it! I hate her so much!'?"

Chase sat up straighter on the couch. "What? Are you kidding me? Of course not! I would never want any harm to have come to my mother! I loved her and still do! Anyway, I was only four. I couldn't possibly have possibly had that much hate in my heart for her."

Marlena smiled at Chase, and Chase realized what he had just said.

He blew some hair out of his eyes. "It looks like I may have just had what you shrinks call a breakthrough?"

Marlena smiled big. "That you did." Her timer went off, and she clicked the off button. "That's the end of our session for today. Looks like you had your breakthrough right on time." She winked at him. "I'm very pleased with how things have progressed today. Maybe that cat is helping you heal even more than you think!"

Chase rolled his eyes and got up off the couch. "Tell that to my dad. He's convinced my cat is out to get him."

Marlena laughed. "Maybe he should come to my office with the cat, and I can give them some therapy together."

Chase laughed. "You're joking, but that actually wouldn't be a bad idea." He flung is jacket over his shoulder. "See you Friday for my next session."

Marlena smiled and nodded. "See you Friday," she said with a nod of confirmation.

Chase then left her office, feeling just a little bit better.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

The day of Joey and Ciara's hearing had quickly arrived. They had already talked with Joey. Now it was Ciara's turn. As instructed, Ciara had left out the part about being involved in the other pranks. Joey had too. Aiden had talked to Justin to make sure they and their clients were on the same page.

Becca's parents and AJ's mother were there in the courtroom, as well as the principal.

"Is there anything you would like to say for yourself?" the judge asked Ciara.

Ciara nodded. "I just want to apologize to both Becca and AJ for going too far. Your bullying almost made Jonah commit suicide. He tried, but didn't succeed. Jonah is a very good friend of mine. I wanted to get back at you for hurting him and almost causing him his life. I was so caught up on getting revenge that I didn't realize I was becoming a monster. At least you guys didn't mean for him to try to kill himself. I however, meant to physically harm you, and I am _so_ sorry for that. Between my father suddenly dying after having just received him back into my life days earlier, then to almost lose my good friend to suicide… I wasn't in the right mindset. I see how wrong I was now. I promise to never do something so stupid again."

Aiden gave Ciara a reassuring nod and smile when Ciara sat back down. She had done well. He stood up and faced the judge. "Your honor, I want to request that you show some lenience on her. She knows what she did was wrong, and she is sincerely sorry. I truly believe she has learned her lesson. Also, please keep in mind that this is a first time offense. She's never been brought to the court for doing wrong before."

The judge nodded. "I will take that into consideration. The judge then wanted to speak with Becca and AJ.

"I personally don't think I'm the one to blame. When you're fat and stupid like Jonah is, you have to learn to take criticism. It would have been a good thing if he killed himself. Then he wouldn't have to be subjected to the criticism. He clearly couldn't take it anyway," Becca stated.

Ciara clenched her fists.

Aiden used one hand to press over her shoulder to stop her from getting up, and the other hand to cover her mouth. "Don't. She will self-destruct all on her own," he said just audible enough for Ciara to hear. He removed his hands.

Ciara shot him a look, but obeyed and stayed put.

"I'm sorry that Jonah almost killed himself. I didn't mean for that to happen. He just made it so easy to pick on!" AJ said with a laugh.

"I think I've heard enough. I need some time in my chambers to decide. I'll be back in five minutes with my decision." The judge banged his gavel, and they all rose.

"How do you think it went?" Ciara asked Aiden once the judge was in his chambers.

Aiden smirked. "I think Becca and AJ were their own downfall."

Ciara grinned. "They were, weren't they?"

"Let's not get too cocky yet though," Aiden warned. "You never know with this judge. He's usually fair, but sometimes he throws a curveball. I just hope Becca and AJ's parents don't go throwing their weight or money around."

"Well, they aren't that prominent of people. Though, they do have money, so they could have a say in whether or not Ciara gets expelled," Hope said with worry.

"I guess all we can do is hope for the best," Aiden replied.

The judge came back out, and they all rose as instructed.

"I have come to my decision. Joey Johnson, you are sentenced to two hundred hours of community service. I'll let your principal decide if and when you can return to school. Ciara Brady, I sentence you to four-hundred hours community service since you were the one who was actually going to cause the explosion to happen. I am taking pity on you just this once due to the circumstances, but let me remind you of how much damage you could have done. You could have not only scarred two people for life, but you also could have killed them or anyone else around them! What you did was incredibly reckless! I suggest you maybe see a physiatrist to help you through any issues you may still be going through. And be fair warned, if you ever do something like this again, I assure you, I will not be so lenient."

Ciara shook her head. "Thank you for your lenience, Your Honor. I assure you, I have learned my lesson. I know what I did was beyond stupid, and it will never happen again."

The judge nodded. He then looked over at Becca and AJ. "As for you two, I find it sickening and appalling that you two can have such little care over a human life just because he doesn't fit your standards on what you find attractive. Let me remind you that even the nicest looking apples can be rotten on the inside, which makes them inedible no matter how appealing they look on the outside. The same concept goes for the most unattractive oyster shell. It can still hold a beautiful pearl making it more valuable than any shiny red inwardly rotten apple." He banged his gavel. "Court is dismissed."

AJ and Becca rolled their eyes, but Ciara and Joey ran over to each other and hugged the other.

"Don't worry; I'm done being stupid," Joey said to her.

Ciara squeezed him tightly. "Me too."

"It still makes me mad that Becca and AJ never had to pay though," Joey said.

"Yeah, well, get over it unless you want to end up in jail!" Kayla said, grabbing Joey by the shoulders. "We need to talk to the principal about the future of your senior year."

"We do too," Hope said, grabbing Ciara by the shoulders in the same manner.

Ciara and Joey looked at each other. If they could just get through this, they would be okay. If not, it looked like they'd have to find another school…

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"Joey, since you only pulled the fire alarm, I'm just going to suspend you for a week. Ciara, I'm sorry, but for putting the lives of your fellow students in danger, I'm afraid I have to expel you," the principal stated.

"What? No! Please don't! It's my senior year! I want to graduate with my friends!" Ciara whined. She had tears in her eyes. She hated looking like a baby, but she couldn't help it.

Hope shook her head and put a hand to her forehead. She supposed there was always private school…

"With all due respect, if the judge had pity on her, don't you think you could too? She is sorry for what she did, and I assure you she won't do it again," Aiden said gently.

Ciara shook her head. "Never again! I was a stupid idiot. I won't do it again. I want to make my father proud of me, and I know that not only was it wrong what I did, but also it would make my dad disappointed in me."

"Imagine not seeing your father for two years, then he comes back to you after being held captive, only to die days later. To top that off, just over a year later, your very good friend is bullied so badly that he tries to commit suicide and almost dies. Surely you can see how that would take a toll on a person's mind—especially a young girl's mind. Ciara has been through a lot in her life. Please, cut her a break," Aiden said, his eyes pleading with the principal.

The principal looked at Aiden, then at Ciara, who was looking pitiful. She sighed. "All right! I will simply suspend you. Once your community service is complete, then you may come back to school. Until then, you can take your lessons at home. I can give whomever will be teaching you the material to do so."

"I can do it. I have nothing better to do, and I was pretty good in school back in the day," Joey's father Steve offered.

Hope smiled at him. "Thank you. I would appreciate that."

Steve shrugged. "No problem. It will only be for a couple months."

"There better not be a next time though. If there is, you'll be expelled with no exceptions," the principal warned Ciara. She looked at Joey and pointed her finger at him. "That goes for you too!"

Ciara shook her head. "There won't be a next time."

"No next time," Joey agreed, shaking his head as well.

"I'm going to hold you to that," the principal said before leaving.

"Come on. Let's get you home," Kayla said to Joey.

"We start school as soon as I get those materials. We'll hold it at my house. I'm not teaching any school on Dimera grounds," Steve said gruffly.

Ciara nodded. "Got it!"

Joey and Ciara said goodbye to each other, and Kayla and Steve said goodbye to Hope and Aiden, then they left.

Ciara then turned to Aiden and hugged him. "Thank you for helping me." She grinned up at him. "I guess you really have changed. Consider yourself redeemed. But if you ever hurt my mom again—even if you just make her cry—all bets are off."

Aiden hugged her back. "You're welcome, and duly noted."

"I have to go take care of Thomas. See ya, Mom," Ciara said hugging her mother.

"See you later, Baby" Hope said, hugging her daughter tightly.

Ciara then left.

Hope walked over to Aiden and pulled him close. "Thank you. I don't know what we would have done without you."

Aiden wrapped his arms around her as well. "I'm sure you would have figured out something. You're a cop, and a smart one at that!"

Hope nuzzled her nose against his. "I wouldn't have known what to do without you doing your things and being the smooth-talking lawyer that you are."

Aiden grinned. "It comes with years of practice!"

Hope smiled. She then softly kissed him on the lips.

Aiden quietly moaned, and hungrily kissed her back.

After a moment of kissing, Hope took his hand. "Come on. I want to take you home and thank you for your services before I have to go back to work." She then purred into his ear, "I have some services of my own I wanna show you." She licked up his ear.

Aiden moaned and squeezed her hand. "Lead the way, Baby."

Hope kissed him passionately, then led him out of the courthouse to go home.


	47. S2E23

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **Season 2 Episode 23: Love Me Tender**_

Over the next few weeks, Aiden trained hard. He was getting faster at running and his stamina had increased immensely. He could now run the bleacher stairs maybe not quite with ease yet, but a lot faster than he could before. He could make it up and down the bleacher stairs at a pretty good speed without having to stop for air. Of course he had to take a break once he was back down the stairs, but still he had made it a lot further than he had when he had first run them!

He went running daily with Detective Davis. They ran for five miles each day, having built up from one. He had even worked out at the gym with Hope every night before dinner. Also, he had gone on a diet to help him get trim and fit for his retake of the physical endurance exam. He was sure he was going to make the force. Being a lawyer, he already knew most of the things he had to know to be a police officer, and he had quickly picked up on the things he didn't know.

It was currently the middle of October. The following week Aiden would take his final test to see if he had what it took to be a part of the Salem PD. If he passed his physical endurance test, then he would be inducted into the police force. He had no doubt he would make it. He _had_ to make it. He had to prove to Hope he had what it took to be a man that could protect her. He could be like Bo, and he could be like Rafe. He wasn't weak anymore.

He got home from work that day, exhausted from all the cases he had aside from training when he wasn't working on those cases. It was now Friday, and he had the weekend off—at least from work. All he wanted to do tonight was relax at home with Hope. He wouldn't mind going out to dinner with her, but he would also be perfectly content to eat dinner at home.

"Hope? Baby, are you home yet?" Aiden asked, setting his keys on the lamp stand.

Meredith came prancing down the stairs. Upon seeing that it was Aiden who had come home and not Chase, she took one look at him and hissed, all the while giving him the stink eye.

Aiden rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, well the feeling is mutual!" he said to her.

Meredith let out a little growl sound, then made her way to the bathroom, which now held a little box for when she was too lazy to use the upstairs box.

"Stupid cat!" Aiden grumbled. He loved cats, but this cat was an exception. This cat was a rotten little thug! He headed up the stairs and loosened his tie.

As he entered the bedroom, he saw a note on his pillow.

He headed over to the note, picked it up, and read it.

 _Good evening, my Love. You've been working so hard lately, I figured you deserve a night of pampering. Come to our special place for a surprise I'm sure you'll enjoy. Room 208. Don't worry—I already packed you a bag. Xoxo-Hope_

Smiling, Aiden set the note down, then headed into the bathroom to take a shower. Tonight's surprise was definitely going to be just what he needed. Then again, Hope always had been just what he needed…

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"I feel like this is all we ever do—eat pizza and watch movies. Seriously, we all need a life," Ciara grumbled as she took a bite of her Hawaiian pizza.

"I thought you loved horror movies, Ciara!" Theo said.

Ciara rolled her eyes. "I do, but after watching them all ten times, it gets old. There hasn't been a decent horror movie out in forever. I swear, nothing is even scary anymore."

"Who could ever get tired of _Interview with a Vampire_?" Claire asked.

Ciara took the remote and clicked the television off. "Me."

"Hey!" Claire, Chase, Theo, Joey, and Jonah all complained.

"That movie is lame. I want to do something fun," Ciara said with another eye roll.

"Like what?" Theo asked. "And don't say anything illegal. I think you've already done enough of that!"

"Give me a break! You were all for humiliating Lauren and hurting Jason," Ciara snapped.

Theo held up his hands. "I was wrong. Anyway, I didn't expect for Jason to get hurt that severely."

"Whatever," Ciara grumbled.

"I didn't!" Theo insisted.

Claire broke in before things got heated. "Ciara, what would you like to do then, if not watch horror movies?"

Ciara grinned wickedly. "Why not truth or dare? It's all ways been a favorite. I don't mean normal child's play truth or dare like 'I never kissed a boy before' or 'I dare you to crank call Mr. Simpson.'" Ciara shook her head. "No. I mean hardcore truth or dare."

Claire twirled some hair around her finger. "I don't know…"

"It can't be anything illegal. I'm almost done with my community service," Joey said. "I'm not risking more time, or worse, jail," Joey warned her.

Ciara rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time. "Relax! I'm not stupid. It will be nothing illegal; just something four our entertainment."

Joey shrugged. "I'm in then."

"If it's nothing illegal, then I suppose there's no harm to it. I'm in as well," Theo said.

Jonah shrugged. "Why not? If anyone can use a little fun, it's me. I'm in too."

Chase nodded. "You know _I'm_ in!"

They all looked at Claire.

Claire looked at them as if debating. Finally, she sighed. "Fine! I'm in."

Ciara grinned big, and clapped her hands together. "Excellent! Now who wants to go first?"

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

When Aiden arrived at the hotel, he headed straight up to room 208. He was very eager to spend some alone time with his soon-to-be wife.

He knocked on the door, and the door opened. His mouth dropped open when he saw Hope wearing a sexy little red dress that was super short, super tight, and super low-cut. Her lips were a crimson red to match the dress.

She gently pulled him into the room by the front of his shirt, and brushed her lips against his ear. "I'm so glad you could make it, Mr. Jennings," she purred.

Aiden moaned, then kissed her passionately for a moment.

Hope took his face between her hands and hungrily kissed him back.

Once they had broken for air, Hope closed the door, then turned back to face him.

Aiden took her outfit in. It clung to her body like Saran wrap. Her legs looked shapely and lengthy, and her red pumps made her legs look even more fantastic than they already were.

He placed his hands over her waist. "Oo, Baby, the things your body in that dress is doing to me right now…" He licked his lips and moaned as his eyes continued to drink her in.

Hope raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Just my body?"

Aiden shook his head. "Uh, uh! Your face too." He gently took her face between his hands. "Your beautiful, stunning, sexy face." He began kissing first her lips, then her cheeks, then down past her jawline to her neck. "Your neck… Everything about you is so perfect to me."

Hope closed her eyes and tilted her head back as Aiden continued to kiss her neck, gently nipping at the skin here and there. She tangled her fingers in his hair.

He then picked her up and started carrying her to the bed.

"Wait!" she said. "We can't do this. Not right now."

"Why not?" Aiden kissed her lips passionately. "Baby, I don't think you understand my need that is going on right now."

His eyes filled with desire for him. "Don't worry. I'm going to make sure every one of your needs get satisfied tonight," she purred.

He moaned, and continued carrying her to bed.

"But!" she quickly added, "Room service will be here any minute with our food. I don't think it would be a good idea for us to be making love when it gets here."

Aiden smirked. "Why not? I'm sure it's nothing he or she hasn't heard before, working at a hotel. We can leave a note outside the door for them to just leave the food outside the door for us to get later."

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "Room service!"

Aiden groaned.

Hope smiled apologetically. "Oops!" she said. "Too late."

"You answer it. I'm in no condition to right now," Aiden grumbled as he set her down, then went to lie down on the bed.

Hope shook her head and smirked as she headed to the door. She looked over her shoulder at him. "You're so bad!"

His eyes got the hungry for her look in them that Hope knew all too well. "Hop into bed with me, and I'll show you how bad I can be. Baby, I'll give you more pleasure than you could even fathom!"

Hope paused for a moment. She bit her bottom lip, and pushed some hair behind her ear as she took in what Aiden had just said to her.

There was another knock on the door. "Room service!"

She shook her lustful thoughts from her mind, then opened the door to get hers and Aiden's food. Their dessert was going to have to wait until after dinner…

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"Since you all are a bunch of chickens, I'll go first. I pick dare," Ciara said. "Joey, you won't wimp out of me. Pick a good one."

Joey thought about it for a moment. He then grinned. "I dare you to drink a cup of toilet water."

"Gross, but not that impressive," Ciara said, standing up. "I'm not drinking a huge glass. I'll drink a Dixie Cup's worth."

Joey smirked. "Fine, but I wasn't done with the dare yet."

Ciara looked at him. "Okay, what's the rest?"

Joey grinned wickedly. "You have to drink in it after I pee in it!"

"That's disgusting!" Claire said.

"No way! Don't do it, Ciara!" Theo said. "That's going way too far."

Joey laughed. "What? The rules are it can be nothing illegal. We didn't say it couldn't be gross."

"That goes without saying that it can't be that gross!" Claire said.

"I did hear that pee is sterile and can be good for you. Madonna once drank her own pee for the nutrients," Jonah said. "Not that I personally would ever want to, but still…"

Ciara looked at Joey. "That is truly sick and twisted."

Chase laughed. "You're the one who didn't want to play a wimpy version of the game!"

Ciara glared at him, then looked at Joey. "Fine, but expect a good payback when I'm done."

Joey stood up and smiled smugly at her. "Bring it on! I'll be right back after I make my deposit. I have some assets that need liquefying."

Ciara rolled her eyes as he headed to the bathroom.

"Ciara, honestly we will not think any differently of you if you bail out. I'm pretty sure this isn't what you had in mind when it came to a less wimpy truth or dare. This is going a little bit too far!" Claire said to her.

Ciara shook her head. "No. I'm not bailing. I wanted hardcore, and now I'm getting it."

Joey came out. "Your drink awaits, my cousin!" He bowed to her.

Ciara headed to the bathroom, her friends following right behind her. She took a Dixie-Cup out.

"Ciara don't…" Theo said as he watched her dip it into the toilet.

Ciara held the cup out to them and shrugged. "Bottoms up!" she said. She then quickly chugged it all down in one go. When she was done, she tossed the cup away and flushed the toilet. "Yuck!" She shook all over and made a noise of disgust. She then ran to the sink, grabbed the Listerine, and swished away for a full minute before spitting it out. She then glared at her friends. "Poop is off limits before anyone even tries to use it in a dare. Nothing that can make us sick is allowed."

"Man! I should have thought of that before it became exiled," Joey said.

Theo shook his head. "That is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen."

"I can't believe you did that!" Ciara said.

Chase laughed. "Wait until I tell Hope about this. She'll freak!"

Ciara shot him a look. "Don't you dare tell her about it!"

"If someone dares me to tell her, I have no choice!" Chase said smugly.

Ciara shot everyone a warning look. "I don't need a lecture from my mother about not doing stupid things that could affect my health. Anyway, it's my turn, and I pick Joey. Joey, I dare you to get naked then go knock on Claire's neighbor's door and ask to borrow some underwear."

Joey blushed. "I can't do it naked! I'll get arrested for public nudity!"

"We're in an apartment complex! You won't be out in public," Ciara said.

Joey crossed his arms and shook his head. "No way! I won't do it."

Ciara crossed her arms over her chest as well. "Dude, I drank your pee for gosh sakes! The least you can do is do my dare."

Joey sighed. "I'm not risking getting arrested. I will go, but I will go in my underwear."

"Fine. Whatever," Ciara grumbled.

Joey began to strip down.

"Why would you want to see your cousin naked anyway?" Theo asked.

"It's not about seeing him naked; it's about seeing him humiliated for making me drink his pee," Ciara said.

"You could have said no," Claire said to her.

"And back down after I was the one that wanted to play hardcore? No way!" Ciara said.

Joey was now in his briefs. "I'll ask to borrow some pants. Of all the days for all my boxers to be dirty. I rarely ever choose briefs…" he grumbled.

Ciara smirked.

Joey then opened the door and went to the neighbor across the way.

"That's old lady Genevieve," Claire said, giggling behind her hand. "She'll probably enjoy seeing some action."

Genevieve opened the door after three knocks. "Give me a chance! I'm an old lady and can't make it to the door as quickly anymore you know…" She grumbled. Her eyes then got big as she saw who was standing before her.

"Hi, I'm Joey—Claire's friend." Joey motioned over his shoulder with his thumb toward Claire. "Can I please borrow some pants?"

"Dearie, I'm an old woman. Why on earth would I have pants that would fit a teenage boy? And where are your pants?"

Joey laughed. "I'm sorry. I had to do this for a prank. We're playing truth or dare."

Genevieve smirked. "Well, I can't say I mind the view!" She winked at Joey, and then looked over his shoulder at his friends. "Thank you for the dare! Next time you should have him go naked!" She grinned and winked at Joey and made a clicking sound with her tongue. Then she went back into her apartment and shut the door.

Claire and friends burst out laughing.

Joey was fifty shades of crimson. "That was so embarrassing!"

"She likes you!" Claire said in a sing-song voice.

"Shut up!" Joey said with a laugh.

They went back into Claire's apartment and he redressed. "I didn't even get to pick if I wanted a truth or a dare," he grumbled.

"You would have picked dare anyway to show you're not a wuss!" Ciara said.

He nodded. "True."

Joey then turned to Claire. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth! I'm not doing anything embarrassing," she said.

"I know you changed your look to impress a guy. Who is it?" Joey asked her.

Claire bushed, and twirled a strand of hair around her finger. "Who says I didn't change for myself?"

Joey shook his head. "Bull! Girls always say they change for themselves but you know it's not entirely true. There is always someone they want to impress. Otherwise, why would they care what they looked like?"

"Come on, Claire. You have to tell the truth!" Ciara urged.

Claire sighed. "All right. I like Ted Davies."

Ciara laughed. "Ted Davies? He's the captain of the chess team and the biggest dweeb in school. He doesn't strike me as your type."

"I don't know. I kind of like the underdog type. Besides, who doesn't want a smart man?" Claire asked with a dreamy smile.

Ciara rolled her eyes. "Lame!"

Claire ignored her, and turned to Theo. "Truth or dare?"

"I'll be brave. Dare!" Theo said.

Claire tapped her lips with her finger. "I dare you to kiss Chase on the mouth!"

"What? Hey! This should count as a dare for me too then," Chase grumbled.

"Fine. I dare you to kiss Theo in return—with tongue!" Jonah piped in.

"Ew!" Theo and Chase both said together.

Joey and Ciara both laughed, and high-fived Jonah.

"You have to do it! Come on. If I can drink pee, you two certainly can kiss with tongue!" Ciara said.

Theo and Chase both looked at each other with disgusted looks on their faces.

"Let's just get this over with!" Chase said.

"All right," Theo agreed with a wince.

They moved closer together, took each other's faces in their hands, then quickly French kissed for no more than one quick kiss.

"Yuck!" Theo said when he broke the kiss.

"Where's that Listerine?" Chase asked, wiping his tongue with his hands.

Jonah laughed. "There's no way I'm picking dare after seeing that! Truth!"

"All right. Jonah, what was it like to almost die?" Theo asked.

"Theo! Don't be a moron! That is so rude and morbid to ask him! What is wrong with you?" Ciara snapped.

Jonah shook his head. "No, it's all right. It was scary before I shot myself, but at the same time, I just wanted the pain to end, and I knew it would be quick. I honestly don't remember anything after pulling the trigger. Waking up at the hospital was like waking up from a deep sleep and not knowing where you were. I didn't go to Heaven or Hell or anything like that. It was just nothing…"

Theo nodded. "Thank you for telling me."

"No problem," Jonah said with a shrug.

They all hung out for a half hour more, then Joey left because he had a curfew until his community service was over. Ciara also had community service early in the morning, so she left as well. Jonah's now overprotective parents had arrived to pick him up and take him home. They didn't want him riding his bike home this late by himself.

Theo stayed back for a little while with Claire.

"Tonight was fun. Well, it was fun until Ciara yelled at me," Theo grumbled.

Claire nodded. "I hate the way she talks to you. She's not being a good girlfriend."

Theo sighed. "That's just Ciara for you lately—very abrasive." He turned to Claire. "So, you really like Ted Davies?" he asked.

Claire shook her head. "No. I just didn't want them to know who I _really_ liked."

"Who do you _really_ like?" Theo asked.

Claire hesitated for a moment. "It's wrong. I know I shouldn't like this person. He already has a girlfriend."

"You can't help how you feel," Theo said. "Come on. You can tell me. Who is it? I promise not to judge you no matter who you say."

Claire pushed some hair behind her ear and blushed. "Well, it's…you."

Theo's eyes got big in surprise. "Me?"

Claire nodded. "I'm sorry. It's just that we like all the same things and—"

Theo cut her off by taking her face between his hands. "Don't apologize."

"Why not?" Claire asked quietly, her hands placed over his now.

"Because I feel the same way about you," he murmured.

Claire's eyes lowered, as did his, and before she knew it, their lips met in a passionate, yet sweet kiss.

 _ **~*This love came back to me*~**_

"Dinner was delicious, my Love. Thank you," Aiden said once they had finished their dinner. He dabbed his mouth with his napkin.

"That's only because I wasn't the one to make it!" Hope teased with a wink and a smirk. "Shall we order dessert?"

"I think you know that the only dessert I want right now is you," he murmured.

Hope smiled. "I want to dance first—like old times."

Aiden sighed. "You're killing me, Hope. You know that, don't you?"

"Aw, come on!" Hope stood up, then walked over to him and took his hands in her own. "You know the longer we wait, the more amazing will be when we finally get it."

Aiden let her pull him up. "Oh all right."

Hope walked over to the IPod dock and selected the playlist she wanted from her IPod. Immediately, their waltz began to play. She turned to face Aiden. "We couldn't have dancing without our song now, could we?"

"Of course not," Aiden said, pulling her closer.

They kissed before waltzing to their song. They didn't have too much space to dance, but they made do. They locked eyes as they dance, each other really the only thing on their minds anyway.

When the song ended, Aiden murmured into Hope's ear, "I don't want to wait any longer."

"Then don't," Hope murmured.

Aiden moaned, then picked her up and carried her to the bedroom, more than ready to make love to his fiancé, the woman he loved more than anyone else in the world.


	48. S2E24

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **S2E24: Don't Wanna Lose You Now.**_

"And on the behalf of the Salem PD, we welcome Aiden Jennings to the force," Roman announced.

Everyone cheered, Hope being the loudest of them all as Aiden took the stage and Roman presented him with his badge.

"When he first announced he wanted to join the police academy, I was a bit skeptical. But after I witnessed all the hard work he put in to becoming a police officer, I changed my mind. I think he will make a fine addition to our team," Roman said to more applause.

Aiden nodded his head in thanks. "Thank you Roman, and thank you all for your support. I truly appreciate you giving me this opportunity."

There was ten minutes more of talking with his fellow officers and receiving congratulations. Then, Hope finally had him to herself.

"I'm so proud of you!" she said, hugging him tightly.

He hugged her back just as tightly. "That makes me so happy to hear you say that, Baby! All I ever wanted was for you to be proud of me."

Hope gently stroked his cheek. "I'm so very proud of you." She had tears of love and adoration for him in her eyes. She then pulled him close and kissed him softly. She rested her forehead against his. "What do you say we get out of here and get a room at the Salem Inn to celebrate, hm?"

He licked his lips, his eyes filled with hunger for her. "I say we leave now before anyone else stops me to congratulate me."

Hope grinned.

"Sorry, but you can't expect to leave without me congratulating you first!" Chase said.

"Chase! You came!" Aiden said in surprise.

"Like I'd miss seeing my father graduate from the police academy!" Chase said. "I'm proud of you, Dad. You wanted to do something and you did it. You're a good example as a dad."

Aiden got tears in his eyes now as he tightly hugged his son. "That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

Chase smirked. "Just don't let it go to your head."

Aiden grinned.

Ciara then cleared her throat. "I don't really think the police force suits you. In my opinion, you're way better fitted as a lawyer, but congrats, Man! I have to say, I'm impressed," Ciara said to him. She extended her hand out to him.

Aiden smirked. "Come on. Wouldn't you say working hard and getting inducted into the police force is worth a hug?"

Ciara rolled her eyes, but smirked. She hugged him. "Let's not make a habit out of this," she said.

"Deal," he agreed.

"See ya around. I have to get to my community service!" Ciara said. It was the week before Halloween. She still had a few weeks to go.

"See you tomorrow then?" Chase asked Hope and his father, an eyebrow raised.

"We'll probably go home to pack overnight bags. We'll give you money for dinner tonight. We'll be home by lunchtime tomorrow," Hope assured him.

Chase nodded his agreement.

So, they all left the station, Hope and Aiden eager to get their overnight bags, and then get their celebration underway.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"Let's get into the hot tub first. It's getting so cold out, the water will feel nice," Hope said.

"I don't know…" Aiden pulled her close by the waist. "I think there are other ways we can warm up, if you know what I mean…" He trailed off, and kissed down the side of her neck.

Hope smiled, and closed her eyes. "You always have a one-track mind, don't you, Mr. Jennings?"

"Only when it comes to you," Aiden said simply.

"It _better_ be only when it comes to me!" Hope said, placing her hands over his lower back and pushing him even closer to her body.

They kissed.

"Let's go get in that hot tub now!" Hope said breaking the kiss.

"I didn't bring my swim stuff!" Aiden said to her.

"That's okay," she said as she headed toward the bathroom. She then looked over her shoulder. "Neither did I," she said with a wink and a smile.

Aiden moaned, then quickly ran to the bathroom to catch up with her.

Hope ran the water, feeling it to make sure it was as warm as it could be without being too hot. She then kicked off her shoes, and took off her badge. She set it on the sink.

Aiden already had his shoes off. He took his badge and looked at it. "It seems so odd to own one of these," he said. He turned it around in his hands, then set it down on the sink next to Hope's.

"You're well-deserving of one" Hope said, working at getting his tie undone. She got it untied, pulled it off, and dropped it to the floor. She then unbuttoned his shirt. She ran her hands up under the black tank he had on underneath his uniform shirt.

He winced. "Your hands are cold!"

She winced as well. "Sorry." She pulled his tank top off him.

Aiden then took her hands and kissed them before rubbing them between his hands. "Better?" he asked.

"Much!" She said, kissing down the side of his neck and undoing his belt.

He then began unbuttoning her blouse. He kissed her bare skin as he exposed it. He slowly pushed her blouse off her shoulders, then reached behind her, and unlatched her bra. He pushed that off her shoulders as well, then they embraced and kissed for a moment.

She moaned, and undid the button and zipper of his pants letting her hand "accidentally" slip in and brush against him.

He bit his bottom lip, and pushed his pants down himself.

They discarded each other's undergarments then Aiden picked her up and carried her into the tub.

She laughed. "Don't you dare drop me!" she warned.

"Relax! I won't," he said right before pretending to drop her.

"Aiden! Stop!" Hope said with a laugh.

He grinned, and sat her down next to him in the spacious Jacuzzi tub. He turned on the jets then gently stroked the side of her cheek with the back of his hand. "I'd never drop you, Baby. I've already hurt you far too much in my life. I'm never going to hurt you again."

Her eyes lowered with love for him. "I know," she said, it coming out in almost a whisper.

They kissed for several minutes then, his left hand fondling her right breast and putting her in the mood for more than just kissing.

She moaned, and moved into position so that she was straddling him, sitting on his lap.

They then made love with no words other than whispered I love yous and each other's name occasionally.

They held each other as they made love, kissing passionately. Their love for each other could clearly be felt between the two of them, and it wasn't just in their love making. To both of them, their hearts felt as if they were connected. Hope was a part of Aiden, just as Aiden was a part of Hope.

Even after they had both achieved their goal, they stayed in each other's arms, kissing lazily.

Aiden kissed a slow, wet trail up Hope's neck. "I love you so much, Hope," he murmured.

"I love you too, Aiden." Hope rested her forehead against his. "I love you so much it sometimes feels my heart is going to explode out of my chest!"

"I feel the same way about you," Aiden murmured.

They kissed a short bit more, then Aiden broke the kiss. "Can we continue this outside of the tub? It's getting a little too hot in here now."

Hope kissed him once more. "Of course!"

They then got out of the tub. Hope let the water out, and Aiden turned the jets off.

They slipped their underwear back on, then Aiden helped Hope put her bathrobe on before he put his own bathrobe on.

"Shall we order room service? I'm starving!" Hope asked, looking for the room service menu.

Aiden laid on the bed and smirked. "You're _always_ starving after we make love."

Hope smirked too. "True."

Aiden pat the bed beside him. "Come sit here first. I want to talk to you about something."

Hope looked at him cautiously. "That doesn't sound good."

Aiden shook his head. "It's nothing bad. At least, I hope you don't think it is."

Hope sighed. She headed over to the bed, leaving the menu on the table. She then plopped down beside him, then propped herself up on her elbow and faced Aiden. "What's up?"

Aiden took in a deep breath, then slowly let it out. "I don't know how to say this, so I'm just going to go ahead and say it."

"Okay, then say it…" Hope said, both looking and sounding worried.

Aiden sighed one more time, then came out with it. "I want to quit the police force. I changed my mind about being a cop."

Hope looked at him with confusion on her face, not sure what to say.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

 __"I feel so guilty about all this," Claire said to Theo as she lie in his arms on her couch. "I told Ciara we couldn't get together to go to the mall after her community service because I was feeling sick and not up for going out. God's probably really going to make me sick for lying."

Theo kissed her. "God doesn't work like that. Anyway, I lied to her by telling her I promised by dad I'd clean out the attic. I need to jut break it off with her. I can be such a coward sometimes. The truth is, she scares me. She has been so reckless and impulsive lately. She snaps at me all the time. I feel like I have to walk on egg shells with her."

Claire nodded. "Plus, she was way out of line with her revenge pranks. I know she was upset about what happened to Jonah, but we all were. It didn't make _us_ go on a hurting rampage. I know Joey went along with it, but I think he lets Ciara call the shots. She has a negative effect on him."

"She's definitely not the girl I first fell for. I'm going to break it off with her soon. I promise. Then neither of us will have to lie again," Theo assured her.

"Good! No let's get back to kissing…" Claire said with a grin. She draped her arms over his shoulders.

Theo grinned, and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Sounds good to me…."

They lay back on the couch and kissed.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"What do you mean? You just joined the police force. You worked so hard to get on the force! Now you're telling me you want to quit?" Hope asked. "Is this because of what Ciara said? So what if she doesn't see you as being a cop? You _are_ one. You more than proved you have what it takes to become a cop."

Aiden shook his head. "It's not Ciara. Though, she's right. Honestly, I knew before I even joined the force that I didn't want to become a cop."

Hope looked at him funny. "I'm so confused. If you didn't want to be on the force, then why did you work so hard to join it?"

"Because you loved Bo so much and you were always talking about how Rafe always had your back. Rafe protected you. Rafe did this for you. Rafe did that for you. After all I've done to you, I knew you would never think of me as your protector. Then, when you laughed at me when I first mentioned joining the force, I knew I had to at least prove to you that I could do it. However, as time went on, especially after getting Ciara out of her legal troubles, I knew that being a lawyer was my calling—not being a police officer. I _love_ being a lawyer. It's all I ever wanted to be since I was a teenager! Being a cop just isn't for me. I just wanted to be someone like Bo or Rafe—someone whom you would look to as your hero." Aiden looked down at his hands. "I know. You're finally proud of me for something and I go ahead and quit the reason you're proud of me."

"Hey. Look at me." Hope said gently. She gently lifted his chin so that he was forced to look at her.

"You're never going to be Bo or Rafe. You can't ever replace them, no matter how hard you try to be like them," she said to him once his eyes had met with hers. The hurt must have shown in his eyes, because she quickly continued. "Anyway, I don't want you to be like them or try to replace them. God didn't make any of us to be carbon-copies of each other. We're all individuals, and no two people are alike. So how could I ever expect you to be like Bo or Rafe? Anyway, Bo was very special to me. No one is ever going to replace him in my heart. He was the greatest love of my life. As for Rafe, he and I were partners on the force, and friends for years before we even started a relationship. He and I had such a strong bond after all we had went through."

"I get it, all right?" Aiden asked. "I can never compare to them. You don't have to rub it in."

"You didn't let me finish!" Hope chastised. "When I thought Bo had abandoned me, it was worse than him dying. It was worse because I thought that he had chosen to not be with Ciara and me. Losing him to death was an unbearable pain, yes. But at least I knew how much he loved me, and that he only left me because he didn't have a choice. So thinking he had chosen to not be with me hurt even more than his death, believe it or not. But then you came along, and, as I once told you before, you made the sun come out again. You made me feel so loved and special. True, you didn't always make me feel that way, but you did love me."

"I still do and never stopped!" Aiden confirmed with a nod.

Hope smiled at him and gently stroked his cheek. "I know. No matter what was going on between us, I'd always feel your love for me still existed. I could literally feel it inside me." She put a hand to his mouth. "Don't turn this isn't something perverse. I'm being serious."

Aiden blushed. "Sorry."

Hope removed her hand. "I always knew you loved me even more than Rafe did. Rafe loved me so much! He proved it to me time and time again. But your love for me… I couldn't deny it. It overpowered even Rafe's love for me. And that made me love you more than I ever loved Rafe. Don't get me wrong. I did love Rafe. But I think I felt so obligated to him after all he did for me, that I had convinced myself that the love I felt for him was romantic. In reality, it was just my love for him as a friend and me feeling too guilty to not return his feelings for me. Plus, Bo did ask him to take care of me. I almost felt as if I was betraying Bo by not going along with his pick for me. I felt obligated to be with Rafe. But then one day I realized that, as long as I'm happy, Bo would approve of whomever I chose. And in the end, it's my life. _I_ get to decide who I wanna be with—no Bo, not Rafe, but _me_." Hope took Aiden's cheeks between her hands. "And as much as I tried to deny it, my heart belongs to you. It always has. I couldn't fight it anymore then, and I still can't now." She kissed his lips. "Feel better? You should because it's the truth!"

"So you're not disappointed I don't want to be on the force?" Aiden asked.

"Are you kidding me? Me not having to worry about you getting hurt or killed in the line of duty? Thank God! Anyway, you do so much for me as a lawyer, you have no idea. You stopped my daughter from getting jail time. That means more to me than anything you could do as a police officer."

Aiden smiled. "Really? You're not just saying that to make me feel better?"

Hope shook her head. "Not at all! In fact, it always turns me on, seeing you in action. Granted, I wish you weren't a criminal attorney, but I do love seeing you in action doing your thing as a lawyer. Plus, you look so incredibly hot in a suit."

"Yeah?" Aiden asked her.

"Mm hmm…" she murmured, kissing down the side of his neck, now on top of him.

He moaned. "You know, if it makes you happy, I wouldn't be opposed to switching over to become a prosecuting attorney."

"You'd do that for me?" Hope asked with a smile.

"I'd do anything for you, Hope," Aiden murmured.

Hope's eyes lowered with love for him. "I love you so much."

"I love you too," Aiden said to her, his eyes lowered with love for her as well.

"Mm, make love to me, Mr. Jennings," she murmured lying on her back and tugging at him to get on top of her.

"I thought you were hungry," he said, as he positioned himself over top of her. He kissed her.

"I am, but it can wait. I'm hungrier for you right now," she murmured, her fingers tangling in his hair.

He moaned. "Well, that works out perfectly because I'm hungry for you right now too, Baby."

"Prove it," she purred, her voice and eyes both filled with desire for him.

He moaned, then went about doing just that.

 _ **~*This love came back to me*~**_

"Ciara, you did well today. Why don't you head out early? I'll still count that last hour as you having worked," the community service officer said to Ciara.

"Really?" Ciara asked.

He nodded. "Really! No go before I change my mind."

"Oh my gosh, thank you!" Ciara said; excited. She then left. She wanted to check on Claire. She felt bad her friend felt sick.

She stopped at the mall food court on the way, and picked up a bowl of chicken noodle soup and a bottle of ginger ale. It was Claire's favorite place to eat when at the mall.

On her way out of the mall, Ciara was heading past the theater and stopped in her tracks when she saw Claire and Theo facing each other in front of the movie theater. Their arms were around each other. They looked awfully cozy. Claire didn't look one iota of sick.

Then, to Ciara's great surprise and horror, they kissed. It wasn't just a friendly peck either. No. It was a long and passionate kiss on the lips with a lot of tongue.

Ciara was so angry she threw the soup to the ground.

They both looked over at the sound, and gasped when they saw her.

"Ciara!" Theo said in shock.

"What are you doing here?" Claire asked, trying to sound innocent. "I thought you still had community service."

"Apparently," Ciara said coldly. "I got out early. I see you recovered pretty quickly."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall for him. It just kind of happened!" Claire said, tears in her eyes.

Theo nodded. "You were being so mean to me lately, and didn't spend much time with me."

"So that makes it okay for you to cheat on me with my best friend? No, excuse me," Ciara snarled at Claire. " _E_ x-best friend." She looked at Theo again. Anyway, I had community service. I _couldn't_ spend time with you!"

Theo shook his head. "You stopped spending time with me _before_ your community service. Anyway, if you weren't so hung up on hurting Jonah's bullies or being bitch a bitch to me—" Theo cut himself off. "I'm sorry. I had no right to call you that."

Ciara had tears in her eyes now. "You're right; you didn't." She walked closer to them and laughed bitterly as she looked at Claire. "Here I was, trying to be a good friend by getting your favorite soup at the mall along with some ginger ale to make your stomach feel better, only to find you making out with my boyfriend—in public nonetheless! _Nice_. Well you don't have to worry. You can have him. As far as I'm concerned, you're dead to me." She whipped around to face Theo. "And so are you!" She then opened the bottle of ginger ale and dumped half of it over Claire's head.

Claire cried out in surprise.

"It should make your stomach feel better," Ciara bitterly joked. She then poured the other half over Theo's head. "You know, just in case you caught anything from having your tongue shoved down her throat!" She ditched the bottle in the trash, then stormed off.

Claire and Theo looked at each other.

"She's never going to forgive us, is she?" Claire asked.

Theo shook his head. "I don't think she is."

"Let's just get out of here," Claire said, trying not to cry.

Theo nodded, then quickly led her out of the mall.

 _ **~*This love came back to me.*~**_

"I can't wait to marry you," Hope said as she lie on Aide's chest after their lovemaking.

"And I can't wait to marry _you_ ," Aiden said to her. They kissed. Their life was finally perfect, and their children were starting to get their life on track. Life couldn't be better.

"I can hardly wait to see what our future holds," Hope said to him.

"Me neither. All I know is that as long as I have you, it can only hold good things," Aiden said to her.

Hope grinned at him. "Mm… Ditto."

They hungrily kissed.

"Now, let's order that food I've been wanting to get!" Hope said. She climbed out of bed to head to the table for the room service menu.

Aiden smiled as he watched her walk toward the table, still naked from their lovemaking. He was the luckiest man in the world to have a beautiful, loving, and amazing woman like Hope, he knew. He also knew that he was even luckier that she loved him in return.

"What are you smiling at?" Hope said with a smirk as she hopped back into bed with the menu.

"How lucky I am to have you, and how this time I'm never letting you go," Aiden replied.

" _I'm_ the lucky one. I'm never letting you go either," Hope said, her eyes lowered with love for him.

They kissed again.

"The mango chicken?" Hope then asked, holding up the menu.

"Sounds perfect!" Aiden agreed with a nod.

He smiled as he watched her order, finally at peace, for now he had no doubt about Hope's love for him.

After Hope ordered, she grinned at him. "They'll bring it up in a half hour. I'd say that gives us time to have one more go before they get here. Don't you think?"

Aiden grinned. "Come here, Baby."

Hope moaned as he pinned her beneath him.

Aiden moaned too as they began to make love.

 _The love is mutual_ , Aiden thought before his mind slipped into the blissful stage of Hope, Hope, and nothing but Hope.

 _ ***The End***_


	49. Thankful: Thanksgiving Special

_**~*Thankful*~**_

Aiden was not in a good mood. He didn't like when plans changed—especially not when they changed at the last minute. He and Hope had been planning on spending Thanksgiving with Kayla and Steve, but then Steve had surprised Kayla and Joey with a last minute trip to Hawaii for Thanksgiving.

"I really hate to bail on you at the last minute, Hope, but is there any way at all you can make other plans for Thanksgiving? Normally I would never do this to you, but it's Hawaii! I can't pass up a family vacation in Hawaii. You can understand that, right?" Kayla had asked.

Hope, being the understanding and wonderful person she was, nodded. "Of course!" She smiled, and hugged Kayla tightly. "Don't worry about it! You just go and have a good time. Take lots of pictures and tell me all about it when you get back!"

"Oh, I will, believe me." Kayla then got a mischievous look on her face. "Do you think I should get a grass skirt and a coconut bra?"

"I'm sure Steve would love that and Joey would hate it," Hope said to her.

"All the more reason to get them then!" Kayla teased back.

They both laughed.

Anyway, long story short, Hope then decided to host Thanksgiving dinner at the house with Chase, Ciara, Shawn, and Claire. Shawn and Belle were split, and Belle was having Thanksgiving with John, Marlena, Brady, and Paul.

Aiden would have thought that Hope would go do the shopping for Thanksgiving. However, she had had a better idea.

"Aiden, Baby…" She purred, standing close to him and giving him the seductive look in her eye that he knew meant one of two things. Either she wanted him to make love to her, or she wanted a favor. He had a feeling she wanted a favor. He was right.

"I need you to go to the grocery store. It's the last day stores are open since Thanksgiving is tomorrow. I can give you a list," she said.

"I know you don't cook. Is Shawn going to cook?" Aiden asked.

"Actually, about that…" Hope bit her bottom lip, which Aiden knew was not a good sign. She did that whenever she had to tell him something he wasn't going to like. "Since Shawn and I are so busy at the station, I was thinking that maybe you and Ciara could cook. Ciara knows a little bit about cooking, and I'm sure she can help you along."

Aiden groaned. "And you think I'm not busy? Lawyers get just as busy as cops, you know. Sometimes even busier!"

Hope crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot while shooting him the "you're in trouble" look. She arched an eyebrow. "You told me last week that you never work the week of Thanksgiving; that things don't get that busy until after the holidays."

Aiden felt his face flush. It may have been true, but he had forgotten he had told her that. "Ciara doesn't like me very much," he tried next.

"We both know she has really warmed up to you since you stopped her from having to go to jail. Any other excuses?" She asked, giving him the "I dare you to come up with something" look.

He shook his head. "Why don't you make that list up and I'll get right on it?"

She smiled, then kissed his cheek. "Don't worry! You'll do fine. Plus, it will be a nice chance for you and Ciara to bond before our wedding." She then went to make out the list. "Ciara can go with you."

Well, Ciara already had plans, so he ended up having to go grocery shopping himself.

So, here he was, looking for a parking spot.

The parking lot was packed. Apparently, no one likes to shop for Thanksgiving early. Everyone was a last minute Thanksgiving shopper.

He finally found a spot after searching for ten minutes. He was just about to pull in, when some jerk came in from the other side of the parking lot, and pulled into the spot so fast that the jerk's car made a loud screeching sound.

"Are you freaking kidding me right now?" Aiden yelled to his empty car.

He rolled down the window as a plump lady who looked like she had had one too many Thanksgiving dinners got out of the offending car.

"What are you, blind? Didn't you see my turn signal? I had the right away! That was my spot!" he yelled.

The woman looked at him and gave him a nasty look. "So sue me!"

"Yeah? I'm a lawyer. I just might!" He yelled to her back, which was now facing him as she headed in the store.

She flipped him off without looking back.

Aiden had to pause a moment to contain himself. He was too angry to drive. Right then, if he were to move his car before she got into the store, he would step on it and ram the witch right out of the way!

 _Beep!_

Now some impatient idiot was beeping for him to get out of the way.

"Go around, you jerk! There's plenty of room!" he snapped.

With a sigh, he rolled up a window, then left the parking lot and parked along the street instead.

"This is ridiculous having to walk so far just to get some groceries!" he grumbled as he had to walk back up the street then over the full-length of the grocery store parking lot. He knew that the lines were going to be atrocious!

He finally got into the store. There was one cart left. He saw someone eyeing it up, so he snatched it like a puma snatching its prey. "Sorry, buddy, but not this time…" he grumbled to himself as he wheeled the cart into the main part of the store.

He took out Hope's ten-mile long list from his pocket. He sighed as he looked over the list. It would certainly take him at least a half hour to get everything.

Roman had gone with Caroline to have Thanksgiving with Kim and Shane. Aiden supposed he should just be grateful he didn't have to get enough food to feed them as well.

First thing was first. He had to get the turkey. He walked to the frozen section and looked at the turkeys they had left. Hope wanted a twelve-pound turkey. He didn't know why. There was only going to be six of them. He highly doubted they were all going to eat two pounds of turkey apiece. Hope and Claire especially wouldn't. Those two preferred to eat little potions of each thing served. It was the only way they had room in their stomachs to try everything, according to both Hope and Claire. Ciara on the other hand could pack food away. Aiden had no idea where she put it all. Shawn was a decent eater, as was he himself. Chase could eat a lot, but Aiden still didn't think they'd need twelve pounds of turkey between the six of them.

Some turkeys were cheap, but others were really pricey! He was glad that the twelve-pounders were cheaper. He grabbed the cheapest twelve-pound turkey he could find, then went onto the next item.

He made quick work of getting the stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, cranberry sauce (two cans since Ciara liked the berries and Shawn liked the jelly), rolls, butter, green beans, cream of chicken soup (no one but Hope liked mushrooms), and the French-fried onions.

He also got the sodas and bottled waters. He was going to get wine at the wine store next door. He was glad it was next door because he was so not in the mood to have to try to find another parking spot.

He waited in the longest line in history, and just when he was next to be checked out, his phone rang. It was Hope.

"Hello?"

"Aiden, Baby, I didn't realize we're out of milk. I need you to get some milk. "Plus, did I put the pies on the list?"

Aiden took a deep breath before letting it out. "No, you must have forgotten to."

"Well, we can't have Thanksgiving without pies! Get one apple and one pumpkin please."

"Anything for you, Baby," Aiden said simply. He knew there was no use in arguing with her.

"Thank you." Hope made a kissing sound over the phone. "I love you."

"I love you too," he said.

They then hung up.

With a grumble, he headed out of the line to go get the stupid milk and pies.

 _ **~Thankful~**_

He got the milk and the apple pie, but of course, there was no pumpkin pie to be found.

This only put him in an even fouler mood.

He waited in line for twenty minutes. The line had gotten longer since his first time waiting in line…of course!

When he was finally out of the store, he then headed to the wine store. It was a pain carrying the bag holding a twelve-pound turkey in it. The other bag wasn't much lighter. However, there was no way he was making the long trek to his car any more times than he had to!

Hope had a specific kind of wine that he wanted. It was her absolute favorite. He knew right where it was and planned on going in and getting right out.

However, there was only one bottle left. Just as he went to grab it, a hand snatched it right before his eyes!

He looked up, and low and behold it was the fat witch that had taken his parking spot.

"Come on! You already took my parking spot. You're really going to take my wine too?" he complained.

She grinned. "I sure am! It will make it taste all the sweeter."

Aiden sighed. He didn't want to disappoint Hope. "I'll pay you double the money for that bottle if you give it to me."

The lady grinned the Cheshire cat grin. "Triple."

"Triple! That's robbery!" he snapped.

She shrugged, and held out an empty palm. "Supply and demand."

He set his bags down and dug into his wallet. He dug out the money. "This is all the cash I have left. I hope you're happy."

She handed him the bottle with one hand and snatched the money out of his hand with her other hand. "Very!" She then grabbed a different wine and took off with a "Happy Thanksgiving, Jerk."

"Yeah, choke on your turkey!" he snapped back. He then grabbed his bags and headed to the registers. He set his bags down again and whipped out his credit card to pay for the wine. He couldn't believe he was in total paying four times the regular price!

He put his card back into his wallet and his wallet back into his pocket.

Then he gathered his bags and began the long trek back to his car.

He put the bags in his car and shut the door. Then, as he headed around back to get to the driver's side, he saw it—a big old dent in the back of his car. He had been the victim of a hit and run. And, as if that wasn't enough, when he got to the front of the car, he saw a parking ticket. Apparently, he hadn't seen the meter that he was supposed to put money in.

He snatched the ticket out of the wipers, and yanked the car door open.

He threw himself into the car, tossed the ticket onto the passenger side, and then spent the whole drive home red-faced and grumbling up a storm.

Later that evening, when Hope got home from work, she kissed him, then went to the kitchen to inspect his findings.

"This isn't a very good brand of turkey," she said.

"I just grabbed the cheapest one I could find. "I didn't think there was a difference. Turkey is turkey, right?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I guess. It just would have been nice to have a Butterball turkey instead."

"Well, I'm sorry. It was busy, and most of the turkeys were picked through already. I just wanted to get out of there," he said.

She sighed. "I guess it will do." She looked in the freezer. "Where's the pumpkin pie?"

"I didn't get one. They only had apple," he told her.

She closed the freezer and looked at him. "Why didn't you check another store?"

"I forgot! I had other things on my mind," he said.

She shook her head. "Well, just apple pie won't do! Pumpkin pie is a tradition. We must have it! You're going to have to go back out."

Aiden took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Excuse me a minute."

He headed out of the kitchen, into the living room, and over to the couch. He then picked up a couch cushion, pressed it against his lips, and screamed as loud as he could into it.

 _ **~Thankful~**_

After Aiden had explained to Hope everything that had gone on, Hope had gone out and gotten the pumpkin pie herself from a different store.

Now, it was early Thanksgiving morning, and Aiden was cooking with Ciara.

He put the turkey in the oven.

"Did you take the stuffing out?" Ciara asked.

"Yeah, it's over there on the counter," he replied.

Ciara looked, then rolled her eyes. "Not the boxed stuffing. I'm talking about the bag of giblets inside the turkey. You also have to remove the neck."

Aiden looked at her funny. "Really?"

She nodded. "Really."

He wrinkled his nose. "Ew!"

Ciara rolled her eyes again. "Don't be a baby. Just take it out of the oven before it gets too hot to touch, and remove those before putting it back in the oven. I have to work on the green bean casserole."

So, Aiden put the pot holders on just in case, then took the turkey out of the oven and set it down on the counter. Then, he took off the pot holder and reached inside of the turkey until he found the hard bone of the neck.

He pulled it as hard as he could, and it came right out.

"Disgusting!" he said as he ditched it in the trash. He then reached in and took out the packet of giblets. "Ew!" He dropped it on the floor. "That is the most revolting thing I've ever seen!"

Ciara let out a frustrated cry. "If I, a girl, am not grossed out by it, then neither should you, a grown man, be." She picked the bag up and ditched it in the trash. She then washed her hands and went back to work on her casserole.

Aiden washed his hands, then put the turkey back in the oven.

"Don't forget to baste it," Ciara reminded him after a good ten minutes had passed.

He picked up the turkey baster. Then looked around. "With what?"

"The juices in the pan," Ciara said. "Gosh, Aiden, didn't your mother ever teach you how to cook?"

Aiden shook his head. "Never. I never cooked."

She shrugged. "I still think we have a better chance of not getting sick with your help than we would with Mom's help."

Aiden smirked. "True."

"You can melt some butter and use that to baste too if the juices run low," Ciara informed him.

"Done!" he said after basting it. "Now what?"

"Make the mashed potatoes," Ciara ordered.

"How do I do that?" he asked.

Ciara rolled her eyes. "Just read the instructions on the box. It's not rocket science!"

Aiden shot her a look behind her back. "You don't have to be so mean," he muttered under his breath.

Ciara either didn't hear him, or chose to ignore him.

The rest of the dinner preparation was stressful. Ciara was a real Hitler in the kitchen. But, eventually, they were able to make a nice Thanksgiving meal.

Chase and Shawn set the table, and Claire ended up coming into the kitchen to help Aiden and Ciara with the cooking and Hope had already offered to do cleanup after dinner.

Finally, everything was on the table.

Shawn said grace, Aiden carved the turkey after grace, and then they all dug in.

"You know what? This turkey is actually really good," Shawn said.

"You can thank Aiden for that one. He did all the work," Ciara said, grinning at Aiden.

Aiden smiled. "Only with your instruction."

"Well, it's great, Aiden. You listen to instruction well, apparently," Shawn said.

Aiden smiled back at him. "Thank you. I'm glad you like it."

"All these years you could have been cooking for me instead of ordering in takeout," Chase joked.

Aiden raised an eyebrow at him. "You'd still prefer takeout."

Chase nodded. "True."

They all laughed.

"All of this really is good," Claire agreed.

Ciara nodded. "Thanks, Aiden, for getting it all for us. Next year if you do it again, I'll go with you. That way if you run into any nasty cows again, I can tell them exactly where to go!"

Aiden laughed. "I'd love to see that!"

Hope smiled at Aiden and pulled him close in a side hug. She then kissed his cheek from her spot beside him. "See?" She said quietly in his ear. "I knew she'd come around." She winked.

Aiden smiled at her. "Thank you for picking up the pumpkin pie for me. I'm sorry I forgot to get it and was so grumpy earlier."

"You had every right to be! I'd have been just as annoyed as you were if the roles were reversed," she said. "And you're welcome."

They kissed.

"We need to go around saying what we're all thankful for!" Claire said. "I'll start. I'm thankful for my voice…and my mom and dad of course." She looked around the table. "And obviously for the rest of you." She grinned.

Shawn hugged her. "I'm thankful for my Claire Bear, and for having a new stepbrother. Of course I'm also always thankful for my sister and mother." He looked at Aiden. "And I'm thankful that you were able to become the man my mother needed you to be. With the exception of my father of course, I've never seen her as happy as she is with you."

Aiden smiled. "I'm thankful for all of you, and that you all were able to forgive me for all my sins of the past. I'm also thankful to have the best son a father could ask for, and two new gorgeous step kids and a step grand kid. Grand kid. Wow, I feel old!"

They all chuckled.

He turned to Hope, and I'm thankful to be marrying the love of my life. You're the most beautiful, kindest woman in the world, and I will never know what I did to be so lucky to land you."

Hope had tears of happiness in her eyes. "And I'm thankful I met you. We went through a rough patch as all couples do, but we were able to find our way back to each other. I will forever be thankful to God for that."

"Oh, Baby…" Aiden murmured.

They kissed.

"Okay, not at the table!" Ciara said. "I'll be thankful if you guys stop kissing."

Aiden and Hope broke the kiss; grins on their faces.

"I'm also thankful for my beautiful children—Chase included— and grandchild," Hope said. "Even when they get sassy." She winked at Ciara.

Claire, Shawn, and Aiden chuckled.

Ciara grinned. "And I'm thankful for the best brothers a girl could ask for." She looked at Shawn and Chase. "The best mother a girl could ask for." She blew a kiss to Hope, who pretended to catch it. "My cousin who is not only the best niece a girl could ask for, but also the best friend a girl could ask for." She and Claire smiled at each other. Lastly, she looked at Aiden, "I'm thankful for the best soon-to-be-step Dad. Shawn's right. You make mom happier than I've ever seen her since Dad. So, yes, the best soon-to-be step-dad a girl could ask for."

Aiden had tears in his eyes. "Thank you."

Ciara smiled at him and gave him a polite nod. "Yeah, well, let's not get all mushy over it."

Again, they all laughed.

"I'm thankful for the best dad ever, new step-siblings, and a wonderful friend like Claire, who is so sweet and keeps me grounded," Chase said.

"Aw, Chase! I'm thankful for you too." She got up and hugged him from behind. She kissed his cheek.

She then sat back down.

They enjoyed their rest of their meal with jokes, laughter, and just flat out enjoyable conversation.

After dessert, they sat in the living room while Claire led them in singing "We Gather Together." It was incredibly corny, but none of them minded.

When that was over, Aiden helped Hope bring the dishes to the kitchen.

"You cooked! You don't need to help," Hope said to him.

Once they had both set their handfuls of dishes down in the sink, he pulled her close. "I know, but I want to. I love you so much, Hope! I don't want to wait until our wedding to start helping you out and making your life easier."

Hope gently stroked his cheek. "I love you too. You're one of the best things that ever happened to me."

"And you're one of the best things that ever happened to _me_ ," Aiden told her.

They then kissed, loving and gentle, yet passionate.

All of Aiden's anger and frustration from earlier melted away. After all, he figured, how could he be angry when he had everything in the world to be thankful for?

They broke the kiss, and Hope took his hand and smiled. "Come on! Let's go finish with the dishes so that we can get to bed. Too much tryptophan!"

Aiden laughed. "I hear ya!"

They kissed once more, then headed back into the dining room with their heads resting against each other's, both thankful to have found the love of their lives.

 _ **~*Thankful*~**_

 __ _Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate! ;)_


	50. The Wedding

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **~*The Wedding*~**_

"You look beautiful, Mom."

Hope smiled at her daughter's reflection in the mirror, which was directly behind hers.

She turned around and faced her daughter. "Do you really think so?" She looked herself up and down and smoothed her hands over the long white skirt of her dress. It had tiers and really long and flowy. Her blue heels couldn't even be seen, for the dress was so long. The bodice of the dress was complexly lace. Her hair was up in a French Twist.

"You look absolutely stunning. You'll take Aiden's breath away." Ciara grinned.

Hope smiled. "Are you really okay with me marrying him? I know after all he did, you were skeptical of him, and never fully seemed to get over those feelings."

Ciara shrugged. "He kept me from going to jail, so I guess he's not so bad after all." Her eyes then narrowed. "But if he hurts you again, prepare to be a window."

Hope nervously laughed. "What scares me is you actually look and sound serious when you say that!" She raised an eyebrow at her. "You're not, serious, right?"

Ciara rolled her eyes. "Please, Mom! I'm not a murderer." She grinned. "But I can't promise no physical harm would come to him."

Hope was the one to roll her eyes this time. She shook her head and laughed. "You always did have your father's sense of humor."

Ciara raised an eyebrow. "Who says that part was a joke?"

Hope smirked. "Well, he's not going to hurt me, so you don't have to worry about it. He makes me so happy! I haven't been this happy in a very long time."

Ciara hugged her. "Then I'm happy for you, Mom."

Hope kissed the top of her head. "Thank you, Baby."

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Ciara called out.

"It's Jen and Julie!" Jen called back. "We come bearing gifts!"

Ciara walked over to the door and opened it.

Jen and Julie quickly walked in, and Ciara shut the door behind them before anyone got a glance of Hope in her wedding gown that shouldn't.

"Look at my Darling Hope, so beautiful in her wedding gown!" Julie hugged Hope tightly.

Hope hugged her tightly in return.

Jen then hugged her cousin. "You really do look beautiful," Jennifer said.

"Thank you!" Hope said as she hugged her cousin. "Both of you," she said, looking at them both as she released Jen from the hug.

Jen grinned, and held out a small box. "This is for you."

Hope raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

Julie rolled her eyes. "Why does everyone always ask that when getting a gift? It's wrapped for a reason. Open it up and find out!" She grinned so that Hope knew she was only teasing her.

Hope grinned as well, then opened the box. She gasped. "Jen! This I so beautiful! Thank you!" She hugged her cousin tightly.

Jen smiled. "You're welcome! I figured this could be your something new. I know Ciara already bought you those blue heels for your something blue."

Hope grinned, and peaked one of her feet out to show her she was wearing the heels. "Help me put it on please?" she then asked, holding the bracelet out to Jen.

"Of course!" Jen replied. She the latched the pretty golden bracelet with the wedding date engraved on the back. The front had hers and Aiden's birth stones on them—a garnet for her and a tanzanite for Aiden—both gems in the shape of hearts.

Hope hugged her again. "I love it!"

"Now for your something old!" Julie said.

"She already has something old! Grandpa will be walking her down the aisle," Ciara joked.

Jen, Hope, and Julie all laughed.

"For your sake, I won't tell him you said that!" Julie joked. She then turned her attention back to Hope. She handed her a beautiful pearl necklace. "This was our mother's. I found it when I was helping Jen clean out her attic. It was hidden in a crack between the floor and the wall. It must have fallen there years ago, and no one ever noticed it until now."

Jen nodded. "It's so weird because I never noticed it up there before, and neither did JJ or Abigail. It's almost as if it suddenly just appeared."

"Like our mother wanted you to have it and made us find it," Julie said, tears in her eyes.

Hope had tears in her eyes as well. "Thank you so much for this! You have no idea what this means to me."

"Let me put it on you." Julie latched the necklace around Hope's neck.

"Now for your something borrowed," Claire said.

They all looked at her in surprise. "Where did you come from?" Ciara asked her.

"I came in when Julie first gave Hope the necklace." Claire nodded at them. "You guys were too enthralled with the necklace to notice me come in." She grinned. She then handed Hope some gold heart-shaped earrings. "These are my favorite pair, so I definitely want them back, but I figured the hearts would be perfect for your wedding day."

Hope hugged her granddaughter "Thank you, Claire. They are beautiful and I love them!" She took out her fleur-de-lis earrings and replaced them with the hearts. If it made Claire happy, then it made _her_ happy. Anyway, she did need something borrowed, so the earrings would be perfect.

There was a knock on the door, and Doug popped his head in. "It's time."

Jen quickly took Hope's diamond-studded crowned veil and helped get it secured onto Hope's head. Then, she gave her one last hug. "Are you ready?"

Hope took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "As I'll ever be."

After more hugs from Ciara, Claire, and Julie, the four of them left to go take their places.

Doug came into the room and hugged his daughter, tears in his eyes. "My beautiful daughter is all grown up!" he said, taking her hands in his own.

Hope sighed. "Daddy, this isn't exactly the first time I've ever been married."

Doug smiled weakly. "I know. But I still feel like I'm losing my daughter every time you get married!"

Hope smiled weakly as well, and gently squeezed her father's hands. "You're never going to lose me, Daddy. I don't care how old I get; I'm always going to need my daddy."

They embraced and held each other for a moment, then Dough reluctantly pulled away. "It's time!" he said, gently wiping away Hope's tears with his thumbs.

Hope smiled brightly. "Okay."

They then left the room and headed down the stairs so that Hope could finally remarry the man of her dreams.

 _ **~*The Wedding*~**_

Ciara walked down the stairs first, being Hope's matron of honor, then came Julie, Kayla, Jen, and Claire, who were her bride's maids. They all walked down the stairs and into the Horton living room which was now filled with chairs set up in rows. They walked to an instrumental version of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring."

Aiden's best man, Chase, stood with Aiden, as well as the groomsmen who were Lucas, JJ, and Chad.

They stood right inside of the entrance way to the right when facing the living room with the matron of honor and bridesmaids to the left.

The wedding march then began, and Doug slowly walked Hope down the stairs and through entrance to Aiden. He kissed Hope's cheek as the music stopped, then took his seat in the front row.

"You're so beautiful," Aiden whispered to her as he gently stroked her cheek. His eyes were only on her.

She had tears in her eyes as she kissed his hand. "And you're so handsome!" she whispered back. He was wearing just a plain black and white tuxedo with a green and red striped silk tie since it was Christmas day, but her heart still swelled with love for him. To Hope, he was the handsomest man in the room. She felt so incredibly lucky!

Father Louis was there to marry them since he was the reason (though inadvertently on his part) that they had ended up falling in love. He had insisted they work together on the gala, and in turn, it had made them fall hard for each other.

He began the ceremony, preaching about love and unity. They lit a candle together to represent unity as Claire sang a beautiful song she had written especially for them. It was her present to them on their wedding day.

It was a beautiful song, and when it was over, they all clapped. Hope and Aiden hugged and thanked her as well before continuing on with the ceremony.

It was time for them to say their vows. Aiden went first.

"I'll keep this short because I'm so eager to finally make you my wife again," Aiden began.

Friends and family chuckled while Hope smiled lovingly at him.

"But I just want to say that I will love, honor, and cherish you until the day that I die, and I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you for the way I've treated you in the past. Never again will I lie to you, our purposely cause you any pain, whether it be physically or emotionally. I love you, Hope—more than my own life even." He took her hands in his and kissed them. "And I promise to spend the rest of my life doing whatever it takes to make you the happiest woman alive."

Hope had tears in her eyes. "You already make me happy every day of my life! So happy! As far as I'm concerned, the stuff that happened in the past has only made us stronger. It made us stronger because we learned from our mistakes. It also made me realize how deep for you my love really ran. If I could forgive you for what you did, then I knew how much I really must love you. Inside I knew I should hate you and never want to have anything to do with you again. But, no." Hope shook her head. "My heart wouldn't let me give up on you. I love you, Mr. Jennings! In both good times and bad, and I promise to spend the rest of my life showing you more love than you ever thought possible."

Aiden instinctively tried to kiss her, but Hope smiled, and gently put a finger to his lips.

"Uh, uh, uh!" Father Louise said, shaking his finger at him. "Not until I say the magic words!" He teased.

Everyone laughed.

Father Louis then had the exchanging of the rings.

"With this ring, I thee wed," Aiden said to Hope as he slipped the ring onto Hope's left ring finger.

When it was Hope's turn, she too said the words. "With this ring, I thee wed." She slipped the ring onto Aiden's left ring finger.

"Aiden Jennings, do you take Hope William's to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Father Louis then asked Aiden.

Aiden nodded. "I do." His eyes were locked on Hope's.

Father Louis then turned to Hope. "Hope Williams, do you take Aiden Jennings to be your lawfully wedded husband?

Hope smiled. "I do," she said, her eyes still locked with Aiden's.

"Well, then, by the powers vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife!" Father Louis turned to Aiden. " _Now_ you may kiss the bride!"

Everyone laughed.

Aiden then pulled Hope in for a kiss even more passionate than their first wedding kiss had been.

Everyone cheered as Hope and Aiden kissed.

Hope and Aiden held their clasped hands up in the air in celebration, then they headed just a foot outside the doorway and kissed exactly where they had kissed under the mistletoe their first Christmas together.

"I love you, Mrs. Jennings," Aiden said to Hope, resting his forehead against hers once they had broken the kiss.

She grinned. "And I love you, Mr. Jennings."

They kissed some more, then Hope took his hand. "Come on! We have some unfinished business to attend to," she said softly with a wink and a smile at him.

Aiden grinned, knowing exactly what she meant.

They then headed hand-in-hand over to the Christmas tree.

Doug then presented Aiden with a medium-sized box.

Doug took off the lid, revealing a green and red plaid ball ornament with Aiden's name written across it in silver. "Welcome to the family," Doug said.

Aiden smiled, surprising Hope by getting a little teary-eyed. "Thank you!" he said.

Hope and Chase had already hung theirs, but now, Aiden was able to hang his right next to Hope's. He did so, and the tears fell. "I'm sorry! I'm such a baby!" he said to everyone. He laughed at his own weakness. "From the bottom of my heart, thank you for this."

"You're my husband and part of the family now," Hope said to him, wrapping her arms around him. She kissed his tears away like he usually did for her. "You've earned it!"

They kissed some more as everyone awed. Some even clapped.

Aiden then held Hope close in his arms, the happiest he had ever been, for finally he was home.

 _ **~*The Wedding*~**_

The reception was being held at Chez Rouge, but Hope and Aiden wanted to have their first dance together under the mistletoe in the hallway again, where they had kissed their first Christmas together. So, they had headed out into the hallway and danced to "This Love" by Taylor Swift.

When Claire had suggested that song while they had been planning the wedding, they had both been extremely skeptical. After all, Taylor Swift? It wasn't exactly either of their music styles. They always figured Taylor Swift was for the younger generation. However, once Claire had played it for them, they were both hooked. The lyrics fit them perfectly, and the melody was so beautiful. They had agreed to it, and now that they danced to it together in the hallway underneath the mistletoe, thinking about that first Christmas together, and how little did they know then, they would be married a few years later… Now they knew that they had made the right decision is agreeing to Claire's choice. It was the perfect song for them. They made a mental note to thank her later.

They kissed when the song was over, and the photographer continued to take pictures.

Ciara cleared her throat. "Gross! Can we please leave for the reception now before I barf?"

Aiden smirked. "Same old Ciara."

Hope smirked as well. "And we wouldn't have her any other way."

"Aiden shook his head. "Nope!"

Ciara rolled her eyes, but grinned.

"Come here, you!" Hope said to her.

She put an arm around Ciara, and Aiden put an arm around her as well.

Ciara smiled. "What the heck? Why not?" she asked as she placed her arms around Hope and Aiden. "Get over here, Chase!" Ciara called out.

Chase ran over, and Hope motioned him over to her other side. She wrapped her arm around Chase, and with a smile, he wrapped his arm around her.

They then all walked out of Jen's to head to Chez Rouge, eager to start the reception and celebrate Hope and Aiden's love for each other and new marriage to each other.

~ _ ***The Reception*~**_

The cake was a huge white chocolate three-tiered cake that had a custom made bride and groom on top, made to look just like Hope and Aiden right down to the dress and suit matching their actual dress and suit.

Hope and Aiden cut the cake with Hope's hand on bottom, and Aiden's on top.

They then each took a bit piece with their hands and, both getting the same idea, and smashing it over the other's mouth.

Everyone laughed.

Hope then took the approach of grabbing a napkin and gently wiping Aiden's mouth clean.

Aiden, however, chose to get the frosting off Hope's mouth with his own mouth.

Some awed, some laughed, while others, like Ciara and Chase, both just looked disgusted.

Neither Hope nor Aiden cared or noticed as they began to kiss again, both so in love with the other, and so very happy to finally be married again.

When they all had sat down to eat, the speeches began. Jen's speech was about being skeptical at first of Aiden after his and Hope's past, but soon realizing how much he truly loved Hope, and how happy he made her. She told him how his and Hope's love for each other made her decide to give him another chance, and she welcomed him into their crazy family.

Chase's had been thanking everyone for finally accepting him and his father. He also told Hope it felt really good to have a mom again, and that he couldn't imagine having a better mom than her. Of course, this had made Hope run over to him and hug him. She had even kissed his cheek, causing his cheeks to flush red with embarrassment.

Throughout dessert, guests kept clinking their glasses, wanting Hope and Aiden to kiss, which Hope and Aiden were more than happy to oblige too.

After dessert, there was more dancing.

As Hope ad Aiden danced, Aiden's hands over her waist, and Hope's arms draped over his shoulders, they talked about their honeymoon. They were going to go over New Years, and spend a week in Orlando. Hope had never been to Disney World, and Aiden really wanted to take her.

"I can't wait to take you there and treat you like the princess you deserve to be treated like," he said as they danced.

Hope grinned. "There you go with the smooth-talking again."

Aiden grinned as well. "You know you love it!"

Hope smiled, and gently nodded. "I do. But you treat me like a princess every day; not just on vacation."

Aiden gently stroked her hair, his eyes filled with desire for her. "That's because to me, you _are_ a princess. In fact, you're a queen. Better yet, you're _my_ queen—a goddess even."

"Keep going!" Hope teased, loving her ego being stroked.

Aiden kissed her cheek. "You're my everything." He kissed her chin. "My soul mate." He kissed her neck. "My life."

Hope gently took his face between her hands and looked him in the eyes. "And you're my fairytale ending. I love you, Mr. Jennings. More than you ever could imagine."

Aiden's eyes lowered with love for her. "And I love you, Baby. More than I ever thought it was possible to love someone."

They kissed some more, then rested their foreheads against each other's, so content in knowing that this time, it would be forever.

 _ **~*And they loved happily ever after*~**_


	51. The Honeymoon

_**Days of our Haiden**_

 _ **~*The Honeymoon*~**_

"Mm, this feels like Heaven, being with you under the stars, warm on New Year's Eve for once instead of cold," Hope said as she and Aiden sat side-by-side at a table in The Magic Kingdom. They had a perfect view of Cinderella's Castle, for the outdoor restaurant they were at was in front of the castle, not far from it. The restaurant was hosting a dessert party with desserts and Champaign. The Magic Kingdom didn't usually serve alcohol, but they were making an exception just for the night since it was New Year's Eve.

"I can't wait for the fireworks to start," Aiden said in reference to the fireworks that would be set off over the castle at the stroke of midnight.

"The fireworks already started the day I married you," Hope said to him with a smile.

Aiden grinned. "Smooth! And here I thought I was the smooth one."

Hope smirked. "It must be the Champaign."

Aiden gently stroked her cheek. "Well, I appreciate it nevertheless. For me, the fireworks started the day I first laid eyes on you."

Hope looked at him in surprise. "You hated me when we first met! Heck, I hated you too! You were a total jerk!"

Aiden nodded. "I was. I'm not going to deny it. I was just trying to distance myself from you. I didn't want to fall in love with you. I wasn't ready to fall in love again after what had happened with Meredith. However, we both know that sometimes you can't help it. When love calls, you have to answer, like it or not. He gently stroked her cheek. "I'm glad it did. I never truly knew what love was until I met you. You're my everything, Baby!"

Hope had tears in her eyes; she was so touched. She set her Champaign glass down on the table and took his face between her hands, kissing him softly, yet lovingly. "And you're mine," she said, her eyes filled with love for him as their eyes met.

They kissed some more just as the waitress came over to top off their Champaign glasses. "Sorry to interrupt, but it's almost time for the ball to drop!" she said. "You guys are so cute. So in love! I don't see that much nowadays. Couple are always fighting, or preoccupied with their kids or phones. You two I can tell are really in love."

Hope and Aiden both smiled at her.

"We're newlyweds!" Aiden told her.

Hope nodded. "We just got married on Christmas day!"

"Well, congratulations! Oh, a Christmas wedding sounds so romantic! You two are lucky. I hope I find love like that someday," she said.

Hope smiled, and gently squeezed Aiden's hand. "I'm sure you will."

Aiden nodded his agreement. "When you least expect it!"

"I sure hope so," the waitress said before moving on to her next customers.

"Are you ready for the New Year? It's coming, ready or not," Aiden said to Hope once the waitress had left.

"As long as I have you I'm ready for it," Hope replied, squeezing his hand again.

Aiden squeezed her hand in return and kissed her cheek. "Back at ya!"

Hope blushed, the smile still on her face as she pushed some hair behind her ear with her free hand. She kissed his hand.

"All right, everybody! It's time to ring in the New Year!" Mickey Mouse's voice suddenly said over the loudspeaker.

Minnie's voice could be heard giggling, then she said, "Let's begin the countdown!"

The two mice then took turns counting down from 60.

"Why didn't they just count down from ten?" Aiden asked with a smirk.

Hope smirked as well, and playfully elbowed him. "Get ready to toast!" she ordered.

Aiden picked up his Champaign glass.

" _Thirty! Twenty-nine! Twenty-eight! Twenty-seven!"_

Aiden gently rubbed her back with his freehand and she kissed him quickly on the lips before resting her head on his shoulder.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one… Happy New Year!" Mickey and Minnie both cried out happily.

Hope and Aiden kissed passionately, then clinked their glasses and drank down their Champaign.

Some blew horns while others cheered, and a band started playing "Auld Lang Syne".

Hope and Aiden, who had had more than enough to eat already, stood up and danced by the railing of the porch type area they were on. They had the room. The castle was beautiful around them, as the fireworks began going off and the band continued with the song. They kissed as they gently swayed back and forth with the other couples, so in love with each other.

When the song ended, Aiden gently stroked Hope's cheek, then brought his lips directly to her ear so that she could hear him. "I know I said I was excited for the fireworks, but what do you say we cutout early and beat the crowd? Maybe celebrate the New Year privately in our hotel room? The bed to be exact?" He grinned at her.

She smiled, and took his hand. "That sounds perfect!" She said to him in his ear. "Let's go." She didn't know how on earth Aiden had pulled it off—especially on New Year's, but he had managed to book them at the hotel inside of the castle, so they didn't have very far to go at all to get back to their hotel room.

They had already paid for their bill and tip, so they left the restaurant, eager to continue their celebration in the comfort and privacy of their hotel room.

 _ **~*The Honeymoon*~**_

When they arrived back at their room, they could still hear the fireworks. They shut the door (which locked automatically) and didn't bother turning the lights on as they began undressing each other, both so eager to make love with their spouse and celebrate the New Year.

Aiden carried Hope to the bed and then they quickly made work of getting the covers down and the rest of their clothing off.

That being accomplished, they wasted no time in making love. The fireworks had stopped, but neither of them noticed as they continued to make love.

Aiden kissed down her neck and then back up her neck to her lips.

Her fingertips grazed down his back, and she kissed his shoulder.

Her back arched and she threw her head back, her eyes closed as he continued to give her the ultimate pleasure, all the while his lips roamed her body. His hands had hers pinned down onto the bed, and their lips met.

His lips then put their attention back on her neck as they continued making love.

It wasn't long before it was over, but they still held each other close, not wanting to let go of each other. They continued to kiss until they no longer had the energy to kiss any longer.

Hope then rested her head on his chest, her hand in Aiden's.

She kissed Aiden's chest. "Now that's what I call a great way so start off the New Year!" she said with a smile at him.

He smiled too. "The best way!" he agreed.

They kissed, and he slowly ran his fingertips up and down her back. "I love you more and more with every second that passes," he said to her.

Hope closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of his chest against her cheek. "And I love you more with every millisecond that passes!" She smiled, but kept her eyes closed.

Aiden gently stroked her hair. "I don't know what I'd ever do it I lost you again."

"You're never going to have to find out," Hope gently assured him. "You know how I said early that it feels like Heaven being with you?"

Aiden continued to stroke her hair. "Mhm…"

Hope opened her eyes and looked up at him. "It more than feels like Heaven, it _is_ Heaven! I'm sure of it. I never knew it was this possible to be this happy after Bo. Heck, even with Rafe, as happy as I was, it still didn't compare to the happiness I feel when I'm with you."

Aiden's eyes lowered with love for her. "You saying that is the best present you ever could have given me."

Hope smirked. "So I guess I can take back the designer suit I got you for Christmas and the 24 karat gold pocket watch I got you for my wedding present to you then."

"Let's not get crazy now!" Aiden joked.

Hope laughed.

"You couldn't return them anyway. I already wore the suit, and the pocket watch has our names and wedding day engraved on it," Aiden said smartly.

"You got me!" Hope said with a laugh. She kissed his chest. "Those Christian Louboutin's you got me for Christmas are so nice, I'm afraid to wear them. I don't want to ruin them. I can't believe you got me two pairs!"

"Nothing but the best for my baby," Aiden said, kissing her hand.

She looked up at him with love in her eyes. "And the framed silver picture frame of us with our wedding date on it was perfect! Our wedding kiss photo looks beautiful in it. I still can't believe the frame has real diamonds in it!"

"Again, you deserve nothing but the best…" Aiden murmured his eyes lowered with love for her as he gently stroked her hair some more.

Hope, suddenly getting a new boost of energy, climbed on top of him, and began kissing down the side of his neck.

Aiden closed his eyes, very much enjoying the sensation of her soft lips against his sensitive neck. "What are you doing?" he asked with a grin, though he had a pretty good idea what Hope had in mind to do with him.

Hope looked him in the eyes. "I'm showing you how much I liked my presents from you." She smirked. "Would you rather I thank you in some other way?"

"A simple thank you is enough," Aiden said.

Hope raised an eyebrow at him.

His eyes then turned to ones filled with desire, and his voice deepened a bit the way it always did when he was in the mood for her. "But I really like this way much better."

She grinned, then, in one swift motion, he moved them so that he was now the one on top. Hope was about to complain, but decided against it when she remembered that he really did do his best work on top of her…

 _ **~*The Honeymoon*~**_

The week went by fast. They had had a lot of fun, acting like kids again and going to all four Disney parks and both Universal Studios parks.

Now, it was their last full day in Orlando, and they had decided to spend it at the beach.

Hope, wearing a tight-red one-piece that laced down the front, back, and sides, slathered sun tan lotion on her long legs as she sat on her beach towel. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Aiden staring at her.

She looked over at him, and sure enough, he was staring at her.

She pushed some hair behind her ear and smiled. "What?"

"I'm just imagining what I would be doing to you right now if there weren't all these people around," he admitted, his eyes filled with desire for her as his eyes fell upon the lace up part over her breasts. "Watching you put that stuff on your long, beautiful legs is really turning me on right now; not gonna lie. And did I mention how much I really love that suit on you?"

Hope smirked. "It's the red, isn't it? Guys love red on a woman." She knew it was more than that, but she enjoyed teasing him.

Aiden nodded. "Yes, the red is definitely a good color on you, though I think every color is a good color on you."

His eyes then filled with even more desire, and his voice started to match his eyes. He then moved closer to her to murmur into her ear, "But it's more about the ties—all those sexy ties that I could unlace with one tug of the string." His fingertips gently grazed the stings holding the front of her suit together.

Hope smirked, and gently grabbed his wrist. "Don't even think about it." She then brushed her lips against his ear. "At least, not until we get back to the hotel…" They had moved hotels since Aiden hadn't been able to book the castle for the full length of their stay. Two nights is all the castle had had available for them to stay. They were glad they had at least gotten to try it out.

"Let's go then!" Aiden said, starting to get up off the towels.

Hope smirked, and pulled him back down. "There will be plenty of time for that later! Right now, I want to enjoy our last day in Florida on the beach." Her voice turned seductive again. "Then we can spend our last night in Florida wherever you'd prefer."

Aiden sat back down. "In bed! That's where I prefer to spend our last night in Florida."

Hope grinned, and gently nuzzled her nose against his cheek, loving the smell of his aftershave. "Done! Now, will you please put some sun tan lotion on my back?" She handed him the bottle.

He took it from her. "It will be easier to get your whole back if you take your suit off."

She smirked. "Nice try."

"Can't blame me for trying!" Aiden said as he flipped the cap open and went to work.

Hope smirked. "Don't worry. Tonight there won't be an inch of my body that I cover up. It will be all yours, my Love."

She gasped as Aiden suddenly pulled her right up against his body from behind. He was sitting behind her with his legs at her side so that she was sitting between his legs with her back against his stomach.

She bit her bottom lip, and pushed some hair behind her ear again. "We're sitting a little close for you to be putting sun block on my back, aren't we?" she purred. Not that she minded one bit!

"I really, really, want to be with you, right now." He kissed down the side of her neck. "Please?"

Hope felt her heart pounding. He always knew how to put her in the mood. "Well, our hotel is right on the beach. It would be a shame to let it go to waste…"

Aiden moaned. "Bring your purse. The rest of our stuff will be safe here. We can come back and enjoy the beach after."

His hands went up to fondle her breasts over her suit, and his lips were back to working on her neck. "Let's go."

Hope nodded, a little out of breath already. She knew that if they didn't go now, their fellow beachgoers were going to get an eyeful.

She grabbed her purse and stood up. She then took Aiden's hand, and laughed as he practically dragged her back to the hotel.

"Wait up!" she said, doing her best to run after him.

 _ **~*The Honeymoon*~**_

They lie in bed kissing, after their lovemaking, Aiden still on top of her, not wanting to let her out of his arms just yet.

Hope tangled her fingers in his hair as they continued to kiss. She loved his kisses, and she loved the way he made love to her. She was so happy she felt her heart would burst.

"Your legs…" Aiden murmured, nuzzling his nose against her neck.

"Hm?" she asked, gently stroking his hair. "What about them?"

"They are my favorite part of your body aside from your breasts," he murmured.

She smirked, and raised an eyebrow. "I was sure another part of it was."

Aiden smirked too, knowing exactly what she was insinuating. "That too. Seriously though, you have the most beautiful, shapely long legs…" He gently ran his hand up one of them. "Smooth too."

"You're just lucky you caught me on a shave day," Hope joked with her usual wink and smile.

Aiden laughed. "I'd love them even if it wasn't a shave day." He then stroked her hair, and looked deeply into her eyes. "Do you want to know when I love them the most?"

Hope scrunched her eyebrows together and smirked. "When?" she asked, finding it a little silly for him to have asked such a question, but still finding herself intrigued.

He ran his hands down her legs as he purred his answer into her ear. "I love it when they're wrapped around me."

Her eyes filed with desire for him, and she stroked his hair as she wrapped them around him a little tighter. "What does it make you want to do to me when they are?" she asked in a seductive tone.

His eyes were dark with desire. "I think you can figure that out."

"Show me," she ordered.

"But what about the beach?" he asked.

"The beach can wait!" She pulled him down for a passionate kiss.

He moaned, then wasted no time in giving her exactly wat they both wanted.

 _ **~*The Honeymoon*~**_

They had gotten to the beach late, but did end up getting there with some sunshine time left. They had swam and kissed in the water, then then kissed on the sand. They had enjoyed some wonderful meals and dancing, and had done a little bit of souvenir shopping. Of course, the night had ended with more lovemaking. They were sad to be leaving Florida, but Aiden promised her they could return any time she wanted. She was going to hold him to that. Also, there were other places she wanted to go that were outside of the country. She was thinking a cruise maybe for their first anniversary.

He carried her over the threshold when they arrived home.

She grinned, kissing him, and not wanting him to ever let her go.

He eventually set her back down, but still kept her in his arms. "I'm so happy," he said. "I mean deliriously happy!"

"Me too," she whispered, her hand on his chest.

"Promise me it will be forever this time?" Aiden then asked her.

Hope nodded. "I promise. It will be forever—I promise!"

She kissed him, and he hungrily kissed her back. He ended up picking her up and carrying her to bed.

"Just because we're no longer in Florida, it doesn't mean our honeymoon has to end," he said to Hope as he lay her down on the bed.

"Mm…" I could agree more," Hope said, breathily as they undressed each other.

They then made love yet again, both so happy to be married, and both so happy knowing that this time, it would be forever.

 _ **~*And they lived happily ever after together and in love with each other forever and ever!*~**_

 _ **~*The End*~**_

 _Author's Note: Thank you all for reading this series. This is the last instalment of Days of our Haiden. However, This Love… is on-going and is going to be just like this story. I just wanted to redo how Haiden end up reuniting, so in my new story This Love… I gave it a new beginning and picked up from two years after Aiden left (Days of our Lives) the second time. I finished season 1 and season 2 will premiere January 10_ _th_ _. I hope you all enjoy the new series! It will end up going exactly where I had originally planned this story to go and focus more on Haiden._


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